CompuWeigh Corporation
Woodbury, CT-based CompuWeigh Corp. was incorporated in 1978 when it introduced the grain industry’s first computerized, legal-for-trade bulk weighing control system.
Since that time, CompuWeigh has expanded into automated RFID truck scale receiving and loadout systems, bulk weigh scales, plant automation systems, bin-inventory software, and railcar and barge logistics technology.
Grain Journal spoke recently with Tim Ciucci, senior vice president of sales and marketing, to find out what’s trending in the area of automaton and what the company is working on these days.
Our fastest-growing product line for some years now has been our SmartTruck RFID automated truck processing system. SmartTruck technology is an easy-to-use automated truck processing system that allows facilities to process more trucks in less time and reduce both data collection and product routing errors, thus saving both grain elevators and their customers time and money.
SmartTruck uses a combination of long-range RFID cards, outside message boards, driver touch-screen terminals, electronic photo eyes, video surveillance cameras, IP-based intercom systems, and a powerful computer system configured to specific customer needs that interfaces with the facility’s back-end accounting system.
The focus is on automating the whole process of truck receiving and loadout, reducing errors, improving safety, and most of the time eliminating the need to employ staff anywhere other than the first point of contact, which typically is the probe station in a grain receiving application.
Where I see SmartTruck technology headed in the future is, at a minimum, helping to provide for reduced staffed elevators. Labor is hard to come by, and customers are looking for ways to automate all aspects of grain handling. From check-in, to dump pit assignment, to what bin to send grain, and the weighing process. Some facilities are even getting into elevators with nobody staffed on-site at all.
All of this is becoming possible because we have a touchscreen terminal where drivers log their loads, and the driver is automatically told what dump pit to proceed to based on the commodity and grade factors that were analyzed. Then, the truck is weighed automatically, and the dump pit’s gates or doors open/close to allow the truck in/out. The grain then is automatically sent to the correct bin based on the commodity and grade factors. Finally, the truck is automatically weighed on the outbound scale.
One of the keys to success for us is that we design both the hardware devices, and we design the software itself. We feel there is real value to our systems when the system is designed as one, rather than pieced together from various providers. Often, the comment made by our customers that the system is “extremely well thought out.”
I’m very comfortable in saying CompuWeigh is most often a step ahead of the industry when it comes to product design and features. We continually spend quite a bit of money in research and development, and this allows our systems and customers to stay ahead of the competition.
Reprinted from Grain Journal March/April 2019 Issue
