Because each product blended has different requirements, the blending equipment must also be designed differently. A liquid mixing system is completely different from one that combines different powders and chemicals, such as a blender for plastic injection molding. Arlyn Scales designs and manufactures blending equipment customized for the specific application.

All industrial blenders that uses the weight of the ingredients for metering purposes will include many of the same components as will be found in industrial scales. These include load cells as the weight transducer, a user interface for the input of parameters and viewing the data, and a controller to convert the load cell signals into weights, and to open and close the devices that feed each ingredient into the mixing area. Each of these components will generally need customization to match the specifications of the blending situation.

Besides the primary responsibility of precision metering of ingredients, the controller may also need to store large amounts of data for later analysis. This can occur in a flash memory stick for later downloading into a computer system, or may include a USB data output port for direct connection in real time to the computer. Another interesting alternative is an Ethernet connection into the Internet. This provides real time monitoring and data analysis of blenders from any Internet connected remote location.

All of these standard electronic scales share similar user interfaces. Generally, the weight will be shown on a digital display with numeric characters. Small indicators or legends may also be present to note the units of measurement, such as pounds or kilograms. A few buttons on the front panel perform standard functions, such as zeroing the scale, accepting a tare weight, or changing the units of measurement. In these cases, there is no need for further expense or complication in the user interface.

But there are other situations where there is a need for more complex interaction with the scale. For parts counting scales, it may be convenient to recall the piece weight of an item from memory. Control of external devices may be required, with target weights determining the type of control. The data may need to be stored for future evaluation, or immediately shown as a graph on the digital scale display. A large number of control buttons may be needed, such as an alphanumeric keypad, and alternate functions.

For these situations, and any custom weighing applications, Arlyn Scales provides an advanced color touch screen for the user interface. The large screen will show only the information required for the specific task desired, so extraneous details do not clutter the image. When the task changes, the information shown on the screen will also change. Control buttons will also appear on the screen for just those functions which are called for. Again, the buttons shown will change as the industrial scale changes its mode of operation.

Specialty weighing and sorting devices have been designed by Arlyn Scales for this industry. The pig sorter consists of an inner cage with entry doors and exit doors, along with some sorting gates. The inner cage is suspended from load cells and hung from an outer cage. In normal operation, the entry door starts in the open position. An electric eye detects when an animal enters the cage. The entry door closes, and the load cells send the weight signal to a scale indicator. When a stable reading has been recorded, the sorting gates will swing into position to send the animal to the desired feed area. If the animal is gaining weight slowly, it will be directed to feed that will provide it with additional nutrition. If the animal has gained weight faster than the others, it will eat from lower calorie feed.

The pig sorter collects data from each animal as it travels through. This data can be collected internally with the scale indicator, or sent to a USB memory stick. Not only is each individual weight recorded, but it is sorted by group. This data is used to calculate the average weight gain of all of the animals in the batch. More advanced options allow this data to be transmitted from the pig sorter to the Internet. Those who need to read this data, when given the proper authorization, are able to access it from any Internet connected computer.