The tailor-made masterbatch (TLM), also referred to as "customised masterbatch," belongs to the family of colour masterbatches. Its pigment content is higher than needed in the finished part. For the end use, it is diluted with the polymer which is being coloured so that the desired colour concentration is created in the end product. A tailor-made masterbatch is the blend - manufactured through extrusion -(normally twin screw extrusion) of prefabricated mono-pigment masterbatches to a customised colour. A particular challenge in the manufacture of tailor-made masterbatches is the 100 %-homogeneity to secure the desired accuracy when colouring the end product.

For this application, the twin screw extruder is equipped with one main inlet over which the recipe ingredients are fed to the processing unit using loss-in-weight dosing units. Melting and homogenisation of the various mono-pigment masterbatches takes place in the extruder. After the die opens, the homogeneously blended tailor-made masterbatch is solidified to granulates by means of strand, water-ring or underwater strand pelletisation.

Generally, the manufactured granulates are conveyed directly to the bag-filling system. In another step, the tailor-made masterbatch is used for colouring the end product in plastics processing machines, such as injection/blow moulding machines and film or cable extruders.