EI Associates recently completed the detailed design, procurement and construction of a new extruder installation at IFF’s Hazlet, NJ plant. With the demand for polymer-fragrance products steadily increasing our work commenced with a production and capacity analysis of the existing two-train extruder process to  determine the ability of the existing system to accommodate increased production demands. Based upon EI’s Cycle Time and Bottleneck analysis IFF decided to purchase and install a new extruder to meet additional orders and to also upgrade product quality.  EI worked with IFF and two extruder manufacturers to determine equipment lead times and to establish fabrication specifications to obtain bids for the new extruders.  We then tabulated and analyzed the advantages/disadvantages for each proprietary extruder system.  EI also evaluated the capacity of the existing infrastructure and utility systems and designed and constructed the systems required to accommodate the new extruder, including the addition of a new raw material silo.  A new equipment platform was also designed and constructed as part of this project.