Find the right resin handling equipment for your application in less than 60 seconds.
Select one or more areas such as blending, drying, conveying, storage, railcar unloading, or controls.
Tell us whether you are handling pellets, powders, regrind, flakes, film scrap, or a moisture-sensitive resin.
Add your throughput, ingredient count, convey distance, storage needs, and other known operating details.
Resin handling equipment works best when the blender, dryer, pump, receivers, storage, routing, and controls are selected as one connected system. This selector helps narrow the right equipment families and identifies the application details that should be confirmed before a quote.
Authorized ABS sales & applications partner
Gauge Advisor Tool
Tell us what the material needs to do—you do not need to know the equipment name. Choose one or more tasks, and the selector will ask only the questions that apply before building a practical starting system.
These items may be needed to complete, protect, or automate the system. They are shown separately so the main equipment choice stays easy to understand.
Gauge Advisor will use your actual process data to confirm the equipment model, feeder positions, pump size, hopper volume, controls, utilities, and installation details.
Gauge Advisor is your authorized Advanced Blending Solutions sales and applications partner, providing application guidance, quotations, and project coordination.
Resin Handling Equipment Overview
The selector above recommends the best starting equipment and system approach for your application. Below is a visual overview of the primary Advanced Blending Solutions technologies used to blend, dry, convey, store, route, and recover plastic materials.
Accurate Ingredient Control
SIMPLICITY and SL gravimetric blenders continuously measure and control each ingredient by weight. They are used to combine virgin resin, regrind, color, powders, and additives at the percentages required by the process.
Pellets / Powders / Regrind
Vibratory feeders work well with free-flowing pellets, while auger feeders provide positive metering for powders, additives, and materials that do not flow consistently. Dedicated feeder designs are also available for regrind and flake.
Moisture Removal
Desiccant dryers remove moisture from process air before it passes through the resin. They are commonly used for moisture-sensitive materials such as PET, nylon, polycarbonate, TPU, and other engineering resins.
Residence Time / Material Capacity
Drying hoppers hold resin at the required temperature for the time needed to remove moisture. Hopper size is selected using material throughput, bulk density, drying temperature, and required residence time.
Central Material Transfer
Vacuum pumps move resin from gaylords, dryers, storage bins, or silos to processing machines. Pressure conveying is also available for applications such as railcar unloading and longer-distance transfer into bulk storage.
Material Collection
Vacuum receivers collect conveyed resin above a blender, dryer, storage bin, or processing machine. Standard, filtered, and regrind-specific designs are available for pellets, dusty materials, powders, and irregular flakes.
Verified Material Routing
SMART systems help operators connect the correct resin source to the correct machine or process destination. The system verifies each connection before conveying begins, reducing routing errors and simplifying complex multi-material plants.
Bulk Material Transfer
Direct-pull and pull/push systems transfer bulk resin from railcars or trucks into plant silos. The correct approach depends on unloading rate, distance, vertical lift, silo layout, filtration, and available vacuum or pressure equipment.
Bulk / Intermediate Storage
Silos, intermediate bulk storage, MobiHoppers, and machine-side bins hold material before it is conveyed to production. Storage capacity is selected using material usage, delivery size, refill frequency, and available floor or outdoor space.
Scrap Recovery
The Sasquatch system converts eligible film and process scrap into reusable pelletized material. The application should be reviewed using scrap type, material composition, contamination, feed form, and expected recovery rate.
Faster Material Changes
Chameleon 2.0 and central vacuum cleanout systems reduce the labor, downtime, and material waste associated with color or resin changes. These options are especially useful where frequent changeovers affect production uptime.
Pump Protection / Cleaner Air
Dust collectors and filter receivers remove fines from conveying air before they reach the vacuum pump. This protects equipment, improves reliability, and helps control dusty or contamination-prone materials.
Controls, Data & Automation
After the primary equipment is selected, the next decision is how the system should be controlled, monitored, reported, and connected to the rest of the production line.
Centralized Operation
PLC- and PC-based controls coordinate blenders, vacuum pumps, receivers, dryers, valves, and material-routing equipment. Systems can be scaled from one machine to a larger plant-wide installation.
Usage / Throughput / Traceability
Weigh hoppers and reporting software measure material usage, monitor extrusion throughput, track ingredient consumption, and support production records by shift, job, or work order.
Material Verification
Barcode verification, SMART routing, and material tracking help confirm that the correct resin is connected to the correct machine. These tools are especially valuable in plants with many materials, recipes, and destinations.
Selection note: Resin handling systems are normally selected as a group of connected components rather than as one isolated machine. Final sizing should account for the material, throughput, bulk density, temperature, moisture sensitivity, convey distance, vertical lift, number of sources and destinations, changeover requirements, controls, and available plant utilities.
Next Step After the Selector
The selector provides a strong starting point. Final equipment selection should also account for the material, production rate, plant layout, conveying distance, utilities, controls, and how each component will work together.
Why This Matters
A blender, dryer, vacuum pump, receiver, or storage bin may appear suitable on its own but still perform poorly when the surrounding equipment is not matched to the application. Reviewing the complete material path helps prevent loading delays, moisture problems, inaccurate blends, excessive dust, and avoidable downtime.
Capacity mismatch: A component may handle the total production rate but still be unable to feed, dry, store, or convey an individual material reliably.
Material behavior: Pellets, powders, regrind, flakes, and moisture-sensitive resins do not flow, dry, or convey in the same way.
System interaction: Pump size, line diameter, receiver capacity, dryer airflow, storage arrangement, and control sequence all affect one another.
Blending
Match the blender base, number of ingredients, and feeder style to the total line rate and the required rate of each resin, color, powder, additive, or regrind component.
Drying
Select the dryer and hopper using the resin, hourly usage, drying temperature, required residence time, bulk density, and target moisture level.
Central conveying
Size pumps, material lines, receivers, and controls around the longest convey path, vertical lift, material rate, and number of machines requesting material.
Storage and distribution
Review storage capacity, refill frequency, material sources, production destinations, level monitoring, and routing verification before choosing equipment.
Controls & System Integration
After the primary equipment is selected, the next decision is how material requests, recipes, vacuum sequences, alarms, reports, and routing should be managed across the system.
Equipment Control
PLC & Operator Interface
Coordinate pumps, receivers, blenders, dryers, valves, and material requests from one control platform.
Material Routing
SMART Distribution
Verify that the correct resin source is connected to the correct machine or destination before conveying begins.
Production Records
Trending & Reporting
Track material usage, blend percentages, alarms, throughput, inventory, and production data by job, shift, or work order.
Common Questions
Is total throughput enough to size a blender?
Not by itself. Total throughput helps select the blender base, but each ingredient rate must also fit an available feeder. A low-percentage powder or high-rate regrind component may require a different feeder or larger blender frame.
What information is needed to size a vacuum pump?
Typical inputs include the material, required transfer rate, horizontal distance, vertical lift, line diameter, number of bends, receiver count, and whether several machines may request material at the same time.
When is a special vacuum receiver needed?
Standard receivers work well for many pellets. Filter receivers are better for dusty materials and fines, while regrind receivers help irregular flakes or lightweight scrap discharge more consistently.
Can conveying damage the resin?
Yes. Excessive conveying velocity can create angel hair, fines, heat, and material degradation. Velocity control can adjust the pump speed for different materials and convey paths.
Helpful Resources
Vacuum Pump Sizing Calculator
Estimate a starting vacuum pump size using the material rate, conveying distance, vertical lift, line layout, and system demand.
Cpk & Ppk Process Capability Calculator
Evaluate whether a production process is centered, stable, and capable of consistently meeting its specification limits.
Resin Handling ROI Calculator
Estimate the value of reducing material waste, operator labor, downtime, changeover time, and lost production.
Resin Conveying & Blending Solutions
Explore blending, drying, conveying, storage, railcar unloading, controls, and complete resin handling systems.
Ready for the Next Step?
Whether you need blending, drying, central conveying, railcar unloading, storage, material recovery, or plant-wide controls, Gauge Advisor can help turn the preliminary recommendation into a complete resin handling equipment package.
