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How does the production process work?

Each product might require a slightly different production process. It has been mentioned that many of the products that DSS produce are manufactured by batch production.

The diagram below provides a simplified overview of the typical production process of a product.

Usually the route to any one particular product will require a number of the stages as described above.

The process will involve the precise use of a variety of solvents such as alcohols, to enable the chemicals to be brought together to react. The resulting chemical compounds may have to be dried or heated to provide secondary reactions or filtered to remove the unwanted waste products.

One of the reactor vessels that are used to generate the reactions needed to produce the required chemical or molecule. Images: Courtesy of Degussa AG. Copyright held by Degussa AG.

The whole process has to be constantly monitored not only by humans but also by computers and warning devices to enable staff to make sure the process goes smoothly. Everyone at the plant is aware of the dangers that many of the products that the company uses, and manufactures, poses not only to the community as a whole but to them as individuals. Safety is paramount.

In some cases a customer might approach DSS with a registered production process, which they insist DSS uses in producing the product for them. This may be as a means of ensuring quality control. DSS then has to be able to prove that it is following that process - they have to be able to validate it. This is often the case with pharmaceutical processes, which are registered with bodies such as the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

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