Modular Process Skid Packages: An Alternative to Stick-Built Construction

Breakdowns, spills, and chemical corrosion are anxiety-inducing fears when it comes to pressure vessels, storage tanks, heat exchangers and other equipment. The chances of such mishaps can be reduced with the use of modular skid packages, which enable more rapid cooling and make clean-ups easier.

A skid system will likely be required for your equipment eventually, regardless of industry, but especially in pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, food processing, and commercial chemistry. Like the right laboratory casework and countertops, modular skid packages help create a safer and more productive work environment.

For skid system manufacturers, to ensure maximum accuracy and safety, you should obtain product models with SolidWorks of your modular skid systems before they are built. This way, you can minimize mistakes and hazards, and your customers will be the happier for it.

Introduction to the Skid System

Logistics can quickly complicate any project. Lack of communication between vendors, long equipment lead times, and on-site fabrication delays all slow time to production and increase capital costs.

This is why, in recent years, manufacturers have been investing more into faster, more-cost effective alternatives to stick-built construction. Modular skid packages offer a robustness and flexibility that their stick-built counterparts cannot compete with.

With modular process skids, manufacturers of chemicals, oil and gas, pharmaceuticals, and food and beverages can bring their products to market more quickly and cheaply, and with fewer hiccups.

But what exactly are skid packages?

Traditional stick-built construction involves shipping and installing the process system incrementally at the manufacturing site. This process has become increasingly complex, and manufacturers are turning to the more efficient skid system.

A modular skid system is a portable, self-contained unit that is built into a module or frame, including piping, equipment and instrumentation, for easy integration and transportation. The skids can contain individual process applications or entire process systems. Think small-scale distillation, delayed differentiation, and batch mixing.

Many times, a modular skid is defined as a machine in a box. All the tanks, skid piping and required equipment is present within a frame. The equipment skid is delivered to your site, fully tested and ready for use.

It’s no wonder, then, that the modular process skid market size in the US alone is expected to reach 1,713.12 million USD by 2030, at a CAGR of 12.3%.

Advantages of the Modular Skid System

So, what do companies stand to gain from skid systems?

Improved Worker and Site Safety

Safety concerns are ever-present at many work sites, especially for manufacturing or any site that involves harmful chemicals. While general building safety can be improved with BIM clash detection, modular skid systems will enable your organization to have fewer Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) exposure hours.

Furthermore, the modular equipment is produced in a way that minimizes errors that could compromise product integrity.

Savings on Rollout

Companies that require multiple skid installations across varied locations can leverage the design and engineering costs from the first skid. Hence, they can create multiple replicas at a reduced cost for each subsequent process skid.

Faster Turnaround Timet

Since the preparation and process system design occur at the same time, you get a faster turnaround for your projects.

Creating a skid system offsite permits simultaneous, uninterrupted upgrades to on-site facilities. This means you can remove months from the project schedule, and will see a faster ROI and time to market.

Additionally, before the skids are shipped to your site, the necessary factory acceptance testing (FAT) is conducted, which decreases on-site start-up time.

Higher Quality Fabrication

Because fabrication occurs in a factory-like setting in ideal conditions, the assembly is of high quality. Specialized technicians construct the equipment, and since the work is conducted indoors, the project completion and safety are unaffected by weather conditions. Furthermore, the final product will comply with all the same codes and regulations that apply to stick-built constructions.

Other advantages of modular skid systems include reduced labor costs, fewer space requirements, no geographic limitations, portability, testing at manufacturing facility, proper documentation, and easier inspection.

Is a Modular Skid Always the Best Choice?

There are many real-world examples of effective modular skid uses. For example, the US Department of Energy used a skid-mounted pilot plant to test a new process for eliminating flue gas from coal-based power plants.

However, there are certain situations in which the skid system is not the ideal business solution. For instance, there may be individual process parts that are too large to be contained within a modular skid frame. In this case, traditional stick-built construction would be preferred.

Furthermorvantvante are certain disadvantages to the skid system:

• Process modular skids often have tight spacing between the equipment, which can cause trouble during maintenance.

• Process units in refineries are often limited to small plants. This is because heavier, larger units are unsuitable for constructing and shipping to a manufacturing site, since the costs go up.

Conclusion to Skid Packages

We hope this article has given you some insight into modular skid packages.

At BluEnt, we understand the importance of manufacturing premium modular skid systems that meet relevant safety standards. That’s why we provide SolidWorks modeling services and product modeling services. Browse our portfolio to see how we’ve helped businesses like yours.

Contact us now for SolidWorks modeling services!