Cultura Technologies, LLC • http://www.culturatech.com
Sean Slowinski
When the board of directors at North Central Grain Cooperative hired Sean Slowinski as CEO and general manager in 2012, board members gave him a challenge concerning the coop’s 2.8-million-bushel flagship rail terminal in Bisbee.
Truck lines were too long during harvest at Bisbee, as long as two hours. Patrons were calling ahead to ask about the wait time, and based on what they heard, some were making the decision to deliver grain elsewhere.
“One of the things we did was look at upgrading the terminal to double our receiving capacity from 20,000 to 40,000 bph,” Slowinski said. “If we did that, the additional truck traffic would create a bottleneck at our scale. So we needed to take a look at adding a second scale, and in order to do that, we needed to manage traffic flow a little better, so we needed to change our processes. And in order to streamline our operation, we had to look at scale automation, as well.”
The system in place at the time, he noted, took a lot of time at the scale, which caused the lines to back up.
Under the old system, a truck would pull onto the scale, where it would be weighed. After the inbound weight was recorded, the truck would be directed to one of the five receiving pits for unloading. While the truck was unloading, an operator would collect a pit sample, carry it to the grading room, grade the sample, and record the grades on a paper statement. This paper statement would be walked out to the driver before he left the receiving pit. The driver then would pull back onto the scale from the opposite direction, take the paper inside the scalehouse, and hand it to the scale operator. The operator would type it into the accounting system and create a scale ticket that the driver took back out to the truck.
Automation Solution
North Central already was using oneWeighTM automation software from Cultura Technologies, LLC, Alpharetta, GA (800-518-0472), in various parts of the Bisbee facility. So Slowinski turned to Cultura to help work out a solution to the problem of long truck lines.
Cultura’s solution was to install an easy-to-use touchscreen workstation mounted next to the truck scale at a height that makes it easy for the driver to use.
The driver begins the process by scanning an RFID card. The card contains information on the producer, the truck and its tare weight, crops being hauled, and any contract information.
In addition, any splits are included, so the onus is on the driver to select the grain owner to be paid from a list that appears onscreen.
Once that is taken care of, a message board at the end of the scale directs the driver to one of facility’s five receiving pits. After the grain is dumped, the driver continues to a new outbound scale and scans the RF card at another scaleside workstation. A scale ticket is printed out on the spot, and the driver is on his or her way.
Probe Added
In addition to the upgraded oneWeigh scale automation system, North Central also added a Gamet Apollo truck probe, placing it several hundred feet before the truck gets to the inbound scale.
“That gives us plenty of time to get the grade, before we assign the load to a pit,” Slowinski says. “It’s crucial to keeping traffic moving.
“The data goes seamlessly into the accounting system. The customer can call right away and ask, ‘How many loads did I bring in today?’ And we have it at our fingertips.”
The biggest potential bottleneck at this point is in cases where North Central needs to test a sample for mycotoxins such as DON, in addition to the usual moisture, dockage, and protein. To avoid that bottleneck, Slowinski asks producers to let him know which fields they are harvesting that day. Graders keep a composite sample from loads coming in from that field and test the composite for mycotoxins at the end of the day.
Today, no one calls in to ask about wait times at the elevator. Those have been reduced to 20 minutes or less.
Reprinted from GRAIN JOURNAL January/February 2016 Issue
This article is based on a presentation by Sean Slowinski, CEO and general manager at North Central Grain Cooperative in Bisbee, ND (701-656-3263). He spoke in July at the 2015 Elevator Design Conference sponsored by the National Grain and Feed Association and Grain Journal in Kansas City, MO.
