Tolling services are often defined as a simple arrangement, where one company processes raw material or near-finished goods for another in return for a “toll” or fee. Industry-wide, toll processing services are known by many names—toll manufacturing, contract processing, tolling, toll conversions, and even toll milling when it involves size reduction—but the service is essentially the same. For example, contract processing may involve a long-term service contract or agreement between two companies to further process material, where toll milling offers the milling or grinding of raw material as a service from one company to another. In either case, a company that provides tolling services would have the specialized equipment necessary to offer its unique processing services to another company for a toll or fee.
Tolling vs Contract Manufacturing
It should be noted that tolling manufacturing or services are distinct from contract manufacturing or services. Though there are similarities between the two, contract manufacturing companies provide the materials, can select vendors, and provide quality management for third parties whereas tolling services supply the specialized equipment and the customers supply the raw material for processing. A tolling company can offer its expertise and custom process solutions as well. For instances where material testing is required, specialized, state-of-the-art testing provides necessary information rapidly.
Companies that provide tolling services can offer a wide range of experience in processing a broad selection of industrial and food-grade materials across numerous industries. Such experience may include anticipating any difficulties or extenuating circumstances that could be encountered when processing specific types of material. It may regard moisture content, quality control, particle reduction, sizing, separation, or distribution.
Tolling services vary immensely and cover a wide range of operations and processes. A large focus of tolling services is particle size reduction ranging from 6 in. down to 10 micron. Tolling services can not only provide milling, shredding, grinding, and blending, but also provide services such as classification, sifting, lab tests, packaging, compounding, warehousing, mixing, storage, particle agglomeration, dispersions, and quality analysis.
What are the Benefits of Tolling Services?
Successful tolling companies work closely with their customers from the start to create the perfect, long-term solution for their processing requirements. More than just services, outsourcing capabilities of tolling companies offer third-party companies a number of benefits. With affordable, predetermined costs, developing a business relationship with a tolling company can save money and be profitable. There are no capital investment costs or a team of advanced engineers and technicians necessary to operate and maintain the machinery. In addition, there are no equipment-related maintenance expenses or ordering of spare parts. Companies employing tolling services can adjust production levels when needed and experience fast completion times.
Prater is well-known for its wide range of equipment for particle sizing, separation, and reduction. That expertise lends itself well in offering particle sizing, separation, and reduction solutions that extend to toll processing services. Prater’s extensive experience in toll grinding, milling, manufacturing, sizing, and the separation of dry bulk solids stems from decades as a world leader in the development and advancement of state-of-the-art particle sizing, separation, reduction, metering, and compacting equipment along with complete control systems. More than just supplying toll processing equipment to customers, Prater houses a toll-processing center in a 10,000 square foot facility. There, processes in particle reduction, sizing, separation, granulation, feeding, and metering are consistently reproduced.
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Customized Toll Processing Solutions
Tolling services require more than highly specialized equipment that can solve processing problems for companies. Prater offers customers customized, cost-effective process solutions that meet specific application needs. The extensive range of tolling service capabilities includes both operational and processing of material from particle size reduction and sifting and scalping to reprocessing and packaging.