Importance and Need to Undertstand and Control Behavior and Response of Granular Material
The ongoing and increasing importance of granular materials based technologies and operations in the world today is encapsulated in the following statement made by Edward Merrow.

“The flow of granular materials is of fundamental interest because of the prevalence of these materials in the pharmaceutical, agricultural, food service, material handling, mining and power generation industries. It is estimated that related industries total one trillion dollars a year in gross sales in the US alone and they operate at only 63% of capacity. By comparison, industries that rely on fluid transport processes operate at 84% of design capacity."

Ref: Merrow, Edward W., "A Quantitative Assessment of R&D Requirements for Solids processing Technology", Rand Corporation Report R-3216-DOE/PSSP
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Applied DEM
Applied DEM, Inc was founded in 2002 and is a technology company that provides leading edge numerical based simulation and analysis tools for granular handling and materials processing applications. In particular, Applied DEM is dedicated to the development, application and utilization of advanced numerical modeling technologies, specifically Discrete Element Methods (DEM), in industrial applications.

Our major goal is to develop useful and practical computational simulation tools for engineers to use in various granular and bulk handling and processing industries that provide them with solid and cost effective engineering solutions, that maximize plant, process and equipment performance while controlling energy consumption, maintenance costs and improving profitability.