Ask the Expert Question-and-Answer Archive

by Ron Joseph

May, 2003

Scales for Paint Manufacturing

Q. We are a company dealing with electronic weighing. We want to target paint industries as a market segment. I want to know what is the basic process of paint manufacturing. And how can electronic weighing and batching help in the process. Can you guide me where I can find relevant information?

A. I'm not an expert on paint manufacturing, but I do know that large platform scales are used to make paint. Consider that one gallon of paint weighs about 20 Kg (9 lbs) and batches can be as small as 5 Kg and as large as 20,000 Kg (1,000 gallons). Add to that the weight of the stainless steel mixing vessel, and you have a very high capacity platform scale which can weight accurately to within a few Kg.

I have worked with laboratory-sized Sartorius scales in the past, but have not seen a Sartorius platform scale.

You might try searching the Internet for equipment suppliers to the paint manufacturing industry and establishing whether or not your scales are similar to those used by paint manufacturers.