A method of operating at least one apparatus for processing expandable or expanded polymer particles

A system (10), comprising at least one data processing unit (40) and at least one apparatus (20) for performing a primary process for processing expandable or expanded polymer particles to form a particle foam component (30) the system (10) being configured to implement a method of operating the at least one apparatus (20) for processing the expandable or expanded polymer particles to form the particle foam component (30) the method comprising:

• receiving, at least one data processing unit (40), a parameter data set specifying at least one of:
• at least one parameter of at least one primary process for processing the expandable or expanded polymer particles, at least one parameter of at least one secondary process for processing the particle foam component (30), or at least one parameter of the particle foam component (30);
• evaluating, via the at least one data processing unit (40), the parameter data set with respect to at least one evaluation criterion and generating an evaluation data set indicative of at least one current or future deviation of at least one parameter specified by the parameter data set with respect to the at least one evaluation criterion;
• and
• operating the at least one apparatus (20) for processing the expandable or expanded polymer particles to form the particle foam component (30) based on the evaluation data set.