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Case Study
New Probe, Scale, Software Lets Terminal Stage, Dump 15 More Trucks Per Day

CR Manufacturing • 888-461-7040 http://www.crmfginc.com

Case Study - Efficient Truck Management

West Plains LLC’s 850,000-bushel terminal elevator located just north of downtown Omaha, NE (402-827-1723), which the company has owned and operated since 2012, handles strictly hard red winter wheat, and that presents some special challenges.

In order to meet very strict loading and quality specifications for West Plains’ end-user customers, the inbound wheat is required to be graded for many different quality factors and then binned accordingly. West Plains segregates wheat primarily by its protein content, which can translate into changing bins for each individual truck as it enters the facility, says Jim Mendlik, operations and safety coordinator for West Plains.

New CR Mfg. Shuttle Grain truck probe (right) probes truck at West Plains LLC terminal in Omaha, NE. Photos by Stacey Crom.

That, in turn, requires careful management of trucks delivering grain to the elevator to make sure each truckload is probed, weighed, and dumped in a timely manner, in order to accommodate a steady flow of traffic in a normal workday. At the Omaha facility, that wasn’t happening very efficiently, according to Mendlik.

That led West Plains in 2016 to replace all of its truck receiving systems. The grain handler acted as its own general contractor on the project and did much of its own construction.

To begin, C&A Scales installed a new Cardinal Scale Mfg. 80-foot-x-11-foot pitless steel deck truck scale with a Rice Lake 720i digital weight indicator. This scale serves both inbound and outbound truck traffic. The truck scale was installed to replace the use of two inbound garner scales that previously were used for inbound truck receiving. This allows grain to pass through the garner system more efficiently and consolidate like wheat qualities in succession that would have had to be weighed individually in the past, says Mendlik.

Driver enters information in Vertical Software kiosk located at probe station, before he reaches the truck scale.

New Probe

A key component to the facility’s new truck receiving system is a new Shuttle Grain truck probe from CR Manufacturing, Grand Island, NE (888-461-7040). The probe is located about 200 feet before the new truck scale and delivers grain samples pneumatically to the scalehouse for grading through a 300-foot underground PVC pipe.

“We’ve had experience with the CR probes at other (West Plains) locations in the past,” says Mendlik. “We like the fact that it’s a ‘stinger’-type probe without any compartments. We think it can probe a truck faster that way.”

Mendlik also likes the probe’s ease of installation and easy maintenance. “The owner’s manual is more thorough than others I’ve seen, and we’ve always gotten a good service response time from them,” he says.

Among the probe’s other features:

• The probe offers seven feet of core sampling with no moving parts that potentially could damage grain by opening and closing of sample head ports.

• Aircraft-grade hydraulic oil is operational in cold weather eliminating the need for a hydraulic tank heater. Food-grade hydraulic oil is optional.

• The probe has dual flood lights for night use.

• A loud probe-mounted buzzer signals drivers when they can leave.

• If the probe is not used within five minutes, the hydraulic pump shuts off automatically but restarts when the operator presses one of the function buttons.

New Cardinal Scale Mfg. 80-foot-x-11-foot pitless steel deck truck scale, with a Rice Lake 720i digital weight indicator, installed by C&A Scales.

Automation Software

Another key part of the receiving system upgrade is ScaleTrac automation software from Vertical Software, Inc., Bartonville, IL (309-633-0700).

The software installation designed to deal with a large number of first-time drivers coming to the elevator also includes two pieces of hardware from Vertical, kiosks before and after the scale. The kiosk before the scale reads barcode cards issued to drivers, while the one after the scale serves as a scale ticket printer.

The kiosk ahead of the scale not only reads barcode cards tied to the individual truck but can scan documents such as a bill of lading. For a first-time delivery, the software sets up an account by the time the driver reaches the second kiosk, so the grain accountant knows who to pay for the grain, including splits. The software also routes the driver to the correct pit.

Mendlik notes that the new receiving equipment has permitted a rerouting of traffic that allows the facility to stage 15 additional trucks at any one time.

West Plains Operations and Safety Coordinator Jim Mendlik in grain grading office.

Conclusion

The addition of the new truck receiving systems, including the new Cardinal truck scale, new CR Mfg. Shuttle Grain truck probe, and updated Vertical automation software has allowed West Plains to increase its truck unloading capacity by 15 to 20 trucks per day, an increase of up to 25%, Mendlik says, while at the same time improving truck flow and truck staging capacity at the Omaha terminal elevator.

Reprinted from GRAIN JOURNAL March/April 2017 Issue


About CR Manufacturing

Grand Island, NE
888-461-7040
308-381-6662
http://www.crmfginc.com

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