Powder and Bulk Weblog

Change the Climate - Change the Planet

Joseph Taylor — 2008-11-11T06:00:47-05:00

If you set your motor car on a long straight road that has a gradual downhill slope with a clear entrance to a cliff the outcome is clearly in your hands. Accelerate savagely and you may run out of petrol before reaching the cliff, but if you continue at a slower pace [normal driving practice] you will be still mobile at the cliff’s edge.

That correlation was the message derived at the October meeting of the Australian Institute of Packaging in Victoria when Alex Kanaar, Environmental Sustainability Manager Visy Recycling who is part of Al Gore’s climate change leadership program run by the Australian Conservation Foundation (www.acf.org.au). There are 250 Australian ambassadors for the program making up 10% of the global population of persons trained personally by Al Gore. As with many things Australia is once again punching well above its weight!

With the aid of selected visual examples and specific graphs Alex was able to demonstrate that the world is accelerating savagely and that has become normal driving practice. Human induced global warming and climate change can not be denied; but by altering driving habits a stop before the cliff’s edge is possible. The burning of fossil fuels is responsible for demonstrable increases in carbon dioxide emissions that have changed the earth’s atmosphere and nature’s control mechanisms. The absorption of greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere have been traced back six-hundred and fifty thousand years and plotted to gauge the effects on our climate. Not all is reversible but repetition is preventable.

Since the Industrial Revolution, a mere two hundred years ago, the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has increased from 280 ppm to 383 ppm and it continues to increase by two parts per million every year which has escalated the average temperature. [Nature determined that earth’s average temperature should be fifteen degrees Celsius] In the century just passed the average temperature of Australia has increased by 0.9 degrees, but if we continue to drive as normal it will almost double again by 2050 with catastrophic results.

Many examples of destruction of natural and man made resources directly attributable to climate change were provided by Mr Kanaar. Some considerations:

-Seven out of the ten hottest years in Australia have occurred since 2001
-3250 square kilometres of ice in the Antarctic was lost in one month. Cliffs of ice 250 metres high were filmed breaking away and falling into the sea.
-Many Pacific Island nations are under threat from rising sea levels and a new category of refugee results. Climate Change Refuges will need to be resettled in a very short period of time.
-Storms have increased in duration and intensity by more than 50% since 1970.
-More severe bush fires have occurred in Australia and elsewhere. (But is it all climate change or in part mismanagement by Governments?)
-Ocean temperatures are higher than ever before and devastations like Hurricane Katrina can be expected.

But it is not all gloom and doom and many industry and personal procedural changes are available. Alex Kanaar recited statements from the Chief Executives of Australia’s big businesses each agreeing that climate change needs to be addressed, and if properly handled can not only be beneficial to the planet but deliver the “triple bottom line” profits. As he said “we already have the fundamental know-how to solve global warming”! He then espoused many techniques and technologies that are available or in development stage.

As would be expected, a spirited question time followed, and Alex was able to give credible answers to even the most sceptical audience participants. One unfortunate conclusion is that many Politicians are ambivalent to the long term welfare of the nation and the planet. Solar power is just one example for in the land mass of nearly eight million square kilometres only 1225 or 0.0153% covered in solar panels would generate all of the electricity needed by Australian industry. In a country that can not agree on daylight saving we would expect state differentials; and this is know to apply in the price paid for co-generated electricity sold back to the grid.

In conclusion Mr Kanaar summarised Visy Recycling’s and his personal approach to combating climate change. He travelled to and from Sydney and paid a carbon offset surcharge but would have saved that driving his hybrid car to commute to the airport. [The issue several hundred cars parked in the open air around the airport, and the expansive roofing, reflecting the sun’s radiation back into atmosphere was not raised in question time]

There are many resources available to assist in managing greenhouse gas emissions but unless everyone makes a personal effort the planet will continue to be degraded with more deleterious results than previously encountered or currently envisaged. For more information on action that can be taken to help solve the climate crisis challenge visit www.acf.org.au.

On behalf of the audience members Ralph Moyle the Southern Branch Chairman thanked Alex Kanaar and presented a gift of appreciation. No doubt the messages delivered during the hour and a quarter that Alex was presenting was contemplated by all as they made their way home.

Michael B Halley FAIP
Australian Institute of Packaging
http://www.aipack.com.au/

MINExpo draws Record Crowds, Exhibitors

Don Dunnington — 2008-09-26T20:10:32-05:00

I just returned from MINExpo in Las Vegas where a record 36,000 visitors and 1,300 exhibitors spent three days buying and selling the equipment that digs and processes the raw materials that feed our bulk materials industries. Attendance was up more than 50 percent over the previous show and exhibit space at 600,000 sq. ft. was up 30 percent.

This is an industry of big machines and huge capital investments, and MINExpo, which like the Olympics occurs just once every four years, brings an impressive array of equipment under one roof. Caterpillar set the mark as biggest of the big in terms of booth size and probably for the size of their machines on display here. Their big 797F and 795F AC mining trucks, standing as tall as three story houses, drew the most attention and more photographers than the fabled Las Vegas strip.

Lines of visitors snaked up the stairs to sit in the driver's seats. On a mezzanine connecting the stairs to one of the truck cabs, two training simulators let visitors test their skills at driving these monsters.

There were quite a few material handling equipment manufacturers at the show. Next to the Caterpillar booth, Gundlach was showing its 2050S Roll Crusher. Together with Gundlach's Cage Paktor, these machines have played an important role in helping a number of Canadian mines meet the booming demand for potash. Canada's remarkable growth in potash production has been driven by agriculture's increased demand for fertilizer to feed the frenzy for biofuels in markets around the world.

The flooding of a major Russian mine pushed demand for Canadian potash even higher. Russia, Canada and Belarus account for 85 percent of known potash reserves. Canada alone has half of all reserves. Russia had been the major supplier of China, and the Russian mine closing came at a time when China's demand for fertilizer was growing at more than 12 percent per year. Flooding is common problem for potash mines, and Russian potash mining is expected to return soon, giving equipment makers an opportunity for another surge in orders from the potash industry.

Coal has seen a resurgence with today's growing energy demands, and coal mining had a major presence at the show. Pennsylvania Crusher showed its Mountaineer Sizer. The Mountaineer Sizer is designed for primary or secondary sizing of coals, industrial minerals, and ores with minimum fines generation.

Penn Crusher shared exhibit space with its sister company Jeffrey Rader, which showed its NF Electromechanical Vibrating Feeder. This feeder is designed specifically for the material handling needs of the coal industry, so that burden doesn't dampen vibration and actually boosts performance. These sub-resonant tuning characteristics assure efficient material transfer, promote quieter operation, and reduce energy and maintenance costs.

Eriez marketing communications manager Keith Jones told me the top attraction at their booth was their magnetic separator for the coal industry and minerals processing. Eriez Suspended Electromagnets (SE) remove damaging tramp iron from materials conveyed in heavy burden depths on flat conveyors or chutes. They automatically remove tramp iron from heavy product flows such as coal or rock being conveyed on belts, vibratory feeders or chutes. When designed with a continuously rotating belt, these magnets are self-cleaning.

Series 6000 Suspended Permanent (SP) Magnets automatically remove large amounts of ferrous from nonferrous materials conveyed in heavy burden depths, on almost any type of conveyor or chute. These magnets require no power source, operate practically maintenance free, offer uninterrupted magnetic protection and can be installed quickly and easily.

Jones said the SP Magnets from Eriez offer a level of performance that was previously available only with electro magnets. Permanent mag¬nets designed just a few years ago don't achieve near the performance of this new line, he said.

Don Dunnington
Moderator

Remembering an "Ike" We Liked and the Railroads Crossing Kansas that Helped Shape Our Process Industries

Don Dunnington — 2008-09-18T09:13:49-05:00

Hurricane Ike's recent unwelcome visit to our Gulf Coast calls to mind a friendlier "Ike," Dwight David Eisenhower, who was widely admired in the U.S. and around the world for his leadership in WWII and then as a U.S. President. I recently spent a few moments outside his boyhood home in Abilene, Kansas.

As soon as we completed our review of the new Premier Pneumatics website at their home office in Salina, Kansas, I got on the road for a three hour drive to Kansas City, from where I would fly home the next morning. About 30 minutes into my drive on I-70, I came to the exit for Abilene and a sign pointing to the Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library.

It was 6:30, and I figured the library would be closed (it was). But I got this picture of Eisenhower's boyhood home. In the background to the left of the house you may be able to see railcars (shown larger here).

The Eisenhower grounds cover several acres, but in Kansas you're seldom far from train tracks. Premier got its start in pneumatic conveying with its railcar loaders and unloaders. From loading and unloading railcars, it was a short hop inside the factories to vacuum and pressure conveying solutions for a wide range of applications for the plastics, plastics compounding, food, pharmaceutical and chemical process industries.

For a few boom years Abilene intersected the western terminus of the Kansas Pacific (now Union Pacific) railroad and the end point of the famous Chisholm Trail. From 1867 to 1872, cowboys drove some three million head of cattle along this 1,000 mile trail from Texas to Abilene, where they were shipped to eastern markets. Until lawmen like Wild Bill Hickok tamed the town, Abilene was known as the wildest town in the Wild West.

From trails to railroads and highways the movement of food and bulk materials across the country played a large role in the colorful history of Kansas. And material handling continues as a major presence among the businesses and industries that came out of Kansas.

Today Premier Pneumatics is a global provider of pneumatic conveying systems. Their bulk unloading and storage systems are used in truck and railcar loading and unloading.

Premier's development of complex vacuum and pressure conveying systems has lead to an incredible array of pneumatic conveying components from their popular airlock rotary valves to vacuum sequencing receivers, self-contained loaders, bin vents, diverter valves, and storage tanks.

And it all started with a railroad that crossed Kansas.

Don Dunnington
Moderator

Double Headed Penny

Joseph Taylor — 2008-09-14T18:28:29-05:00

The advice of meeting for the September gathering of the Australian Institute of Packaging [AIP] said that the theme was Packaging and Food Science & Technology – The two sides of the coin; - where a representative from the AIP will talk about important things concerning packaging and technology relevant to a food science technologist, and this will be complemented by an Australian Food Science and Technology [AIFST] representative talking about important things about food science and technology relevant to a food packaging person.

The audience comprised of members from both AIP and AIFST and totaled in the high fifties with a small majority in favor of AIFST, but that would be expected as during the presentations we learned that food is the largest sector in manufacturing requiring packaging. But having heard about both sides of the coin it would be fair to say that it is more of a “double headed penny” as technologists working in food science or packaging both need to checklist many of the exact same things.

The meeting was the annual joint effort of the two groups when presenters from within the memberships stood before their peers and provided salient indicators of how to develop the optimum food package. The coin had been tossed earlier and Ralph Moyle, the current Victorian AIP Chairperson and Director Southern Electorate had first spin.

Ralph’s presentation covered many issues but was underpinned by an early statement “both must become involved in the whole supply chain”. He went onto give definitions of packaging which can be encapsulated using the same word. Having encapsulated food in what is known as the primary pack it then enters the supply chain and needs secondary and tertiary packing to be available for the consumer. An example would be canned soup in a shelf ready fiberboard shipper on a shrink wrapped pallet.

Interestingly it occurred whilst listening to the speakers that food can have a further critical distribution channel within the domestic environment. A frypan will be removed from its package and the chain ends, but bacon and eggs for the frypan has extended links for they have to be stored and in some cases resealed, but have to retain the integrity of the package that came from original production.

Food is no different than any other product when designing a package but is completely different in its needs as spoilage can lead to serious side effects, even death! But in the most competitive of markets the packaging technologist will be bombarded by marketing demands to provide differences but retain brand image. Overarching any of these issues will be the legal and environmental requirements such as labeling and recyclability.

Ralph Moyle’s clearest message was to have a most comprehensive check list to connect the food and the package which he succinctly put as “what is the reason”! The other side of the coin seemed reason enough to hand the microphone over to Maurice Pattison, MAIFST a consulting food technologist with a diverse food industry background.

Between the presenters time out was called and fellowship certificates were presented to two AIP members Greg Roberts and Mike Morgan both of whom had been nominated and elevated to Fellow at the recent Annual General Meeting of AIP.

The linchpin of Maurice Pattison’s desideration was that people put food inside their bodies and there is an increased emphasis on diet and health with safety being paramount. He talked about hazard analysis and critical control points with Protection, Preservation and Presentation being the three most important aspects of a food package.

In a tutorial on food science we were taken into the mysteries of spoilage and microbiological impacts on food improperly packaged. Ironclad hygiene and sanitation protocols are paramount in food processing and packaging and there are many variations on the theme. For instance food packaged for a supermarket dairy case commonly known as chilled is more exacting than that destined for the frozen food cabinets, yet the product can be the same. [Consider yogurt which can be found in either part of the Supermarket] Both of these packages are of course different to those “foodies” call shelf stable such as canned, bottled or cartooned staples like fruit, sauce and breakfast cereals.

We learnt that it is important not to bracket all seemingly similar foods or foods of a generic group, such as cheeses, together and believe that they all have similar potential for food safety implications, because this is not always the case.

Under HACCP [hazard analysis and critical control points] protocols operating in the food industry a company can declare “approved suppliers” which can give some confidence in product delivery but complacency could lead to disaster.

The requirements of a food package are really from production to plate and even at point of sale things like ultra-violet light and incorrect shelf placement can be a problem. A major predicament is failure in integrity of co lour in brands for it is often the brand image that determines the market placement of food products. labeling got a seeing to but Maurice succinctly summed up labeling with the advice “Do what you say on your label before you put it on your label”.

He is a strong advocate for project management of new packages and face to face communication is still his preferred choice although emails are becoming the main communication stream.

Both presenters delivered the same message which was reminding of an advertisement that claimed “oils is not oils”. Food is not food and packages are not packages…each has a life of its own and ignoring the requirements of the product could cost a life.

The moderator for the evening Robin Tuckerman FAIP thanked Ralph and Maurice but the meeting continued for sometime afterwards as delegates discussed the messages.

AIP in Victoria is supported by the Australian Industry Group through the Victorian Government Industry Skills Adviser initiative.

by Michael B Halley FAIP
http://www.aipack.com.au/

Penn Crusher Brings Back the Iconic Buster, Offers Reward for Clues to his Origin

Don Dunnington — 2008-08-06T14:50:01-05:00

After a long absence, Pennsylvania Crusher has brought back the iconic Rock Buster that served as a corporate symbol in the company's early years.

The muscular symbol takes on new prominence as part of an updated Pennsylvania Crusher logo that has begun appearing on everything from the company's letterhead and business cards to the labels on its crushers and feeders.

The name "Buster" is a fairly recent addition to the burley rock crusher's long history.

Several years ago, Penn Crusher President Don Melchiorre rediscovered him on a 1921 metal nameplate that had been part of an early hammermill machine label. Don christened him "Buster" and had the nameplate hung in a prominent place at the company's main office in Broomall, PA.

The name stuck, and Buster got his first modern-day starring role at the top of Penn Crusher's 2005 calendar.

The calendar celebrated the company's milestone of 100 years in business, and Buster served as the perfect symbol of Penn Crusher's long history of leadership in the development and manufacture of hammermills and other crushing equipment.

When Penn Crusher V.P. of Sales Lee Doyer recently asked Marketing Communications Manager Theresa Antell to propose some options for a new logo design for the company, "Buster" was the unanimous choice.

Buster replaces a rather abstract "PC" symbol that Lee explains was meant to represent the outline of a reversible crusher. "Most people didn't get it," Lee says, "and we're all glad to see Buster in its place. Everyone loves Buster."

The new logo is modeled after the same 1921 nameplate that appeared on the anniversary calendar.

To the best of anyone's recollection, Buster seems to have appeared sometime between 1910 and 1920. Pennsylvania Crusher has been trying to learn more about Buster's story.

New Logo Prompts Search for Buster's History and Prize for Best Stories

The new Penn Crusher logo features the rock crushing Buster

If you have any information that you think might add to the Buster legend, go to the Buster Story Entry Form. Tell your Buster story and enter to win a one-gigabyte USB memory stick pre-loaded with the Pennsylvania Crusher Handbook of Crushing.

Perhaps you have a vintage crusher at your facility with an early Buster image on the nameplate. Your Buster story may be factual or fanciful. In addition to winning a memory stick, the best entries will be included in a future story here on this blog and on the Penn Crusher website. To be a part of the Buster history project, enter your story now.

Don Dunnington
Blog Moderator

Kathy Hunter Retires

Don Dunnington — 2008-07-07T10:12:20-05:00

The K-Tron Process Group’s Director of Global Marketing Kathy Hunter has retired following 20 years with the company. In her role as a member of the Powder Show (now PTXi) advisory group, Kathy came to be known and admired widely by her peers in the industry. You can see Joe Taylor’s online video interview with Kathy at this year’s PTXi show.

She was also active in the Process Equipment Manufacturers Association (PEMA) and was a familiar figure to those attending shows and K-Tron sponsored feeding and pneumatic conveying technology seminars serving the food, pharmaceutical, plastics, chemical and other process industries.

At her retirement luncheon, K-Tron Sales and Marketing V.P. Robert Barnett (see photo) recounted Kathy’s career at K-Tron and her many accomplishments. He recalled how she came to K-Tron from Glassboro State College (now Rowan University) where she was director of the Management Institute.

Kathy said her transition from academia to industrial marketing seemed like a steep climb when she arrived. At the time K-Tron was introducing the first digital feeder controls, and Kathy said it took some concentrated effort to get comfortable with the constantly evolving feeder technology. During her career at K-Tron she helped launch innovative products such as modular volumetric and gravimetric feeders, the Smart Force Transducer, the Smart Weigh Belt Feeder, and the Bulk Solids Pump (BSP). She played a key role in transitioning the K-Tron Feeder Group into the K-Tron Process Group with the acquisition of Premier Pneumatics in 2006.

Although she is retiring, Kathy says she plans to remain active in the process equipment arena. After she takes some time off to visit with her son’s and daughter’s families and especially “spend more time with the grandchildren,” she says she will be doing some consulting. So while her garden in Cherry Hill, NJ may get a little more attention this summer, Kathy fully expects to keep on tending to the abundant garden of friends and interests she has developed over 20 years in the process equipment industry.

Don Dunnington
Moderator

Live Action : Trade Show News as you've never seen before

Don Dunnington — 2008-04-04T18:25:17-05:00

Powder and Bulk Dot Com publisher Joe Taylor broke new ground for the industrial equipment industry with his “Live Video Interviews” from PTX South in Charlotte, NC. Over two days, Taylor and his daughter Diana produced and posted 27 video interviews with exhibitors demonstrating their newest equipment at show.

The handheld camerawork by Diana Taylor has an authentic indie film feel that is perfectly in tune with the growing online video medium. I found the best in-booth interviews involved a demonstration of some new piece of equipment. Even if you were at the show, it’s worth your time to take a look at these unrehearsed live demos, with their up-close views and the opportunity to replay the action as many times as you want.

The following are a brief samples of some of the videos Joe Taylor said he found of interest:

In an interview at the 3Sigma booth, Scott Dahlgren demonstrates 3Sigma’s GeoMate™ Dry Material Feeder. Dahlgren describes how the feeder has been optimized for batching applications with its “Pulseless” feed and “Instant Off” capabilities.

On a visit to the Young Industries booth, Joe Taylor interviews James Mothersbaugh , who demonstrates a cohesive powder feeder that uses air pressure. Young Industries provides solutions in pneumatic conveying, mixing, blending, size reduction, and air pollution control.

In his interview with Jack Paddock of Atlantic Coast Crushers (see lead photo), we learn that the company posts videos of their customer material tests on a private page on Yahoo! Taylor told me you can do the same on Powder and Bulk Dot Com. When you upload a video to this site, the default is for the video to be “public.” During your video upload, simply select the “private” button. You can then email the video page address to those with whom you want to share your private video.

Joe Taylor says Keith Simpson of Spiroflow was a bit reluctant to do a video, but Taylor thinks it turned out to be one of the best videos. Even Simpson had to admit it was a success. In an email to Taylor, Simpson wrote that he was surprised to find that he “wasn’t as frightening to watch” as he thought it would be.

You can find all 27 videos in the "Trade Shows and Events" channel in the Powder and Bulk Dot Com Video Center

Don Dunnington
Moderator

Back Peddling leaves no Carbon Footprint.

Joseph Taylor — 2008-03-31T16:09:59-05:00

If back peddling is good for the environment then the Federal Minister for Environment, Heritage and the Arts Peter Garrett over the second weekend in March [when Victorians were enjoying high temperatures and a long weekend] contributed negatively to Australia’s carbon emissions.

Floated as the price to be paid to accede with Garrett’s demand that plastic shopping bags be phased out by the end of the year a dollar a bag was the “top bid” in the popular press. [Labor policy is to phase out plastic shopping bags by ‘economic means”.]Garrett quickly came out with denials which are available for all to read and judge the “pollie-speak”.

All of this was happening when Robin Tuckerman FAIP principal of RT Consulting was girding up his loins to present the third in a series of packaging education seminars designed by Australian Institute of Packaging [AIP] and presented on behalf of Australian Industry Group [AIG] at the behest of the Victorian Government to deliver the Industry Skills Advisers ’initiative which aims to develop skills within the packaging industry

Robin’s presentation was entitled Demystifying the National Packaging Covenant a subject in which he is well qualified. Robin is particularly interested in environmental and sustainability issues and has been involved in developing and implementing successful Action Plans and Reports since the original Covenant was introduced in July 1999.

He is also very familiar with the new strengthened Covenant and has assisted a number of organisations in establishing base line data, writing Reports and Action Plans, and providing in house training. All have passed the assessment requirements of the National Packaging Covenant [NPC] Secretariat with one winning the Action Challenge Award at the inaugural Packaging Evolution Awards in 2006.

The National Packaging Covenant is the means by which Australian Industry is pursuing Government backed self-regulation to achieve targets rather than legislation introduced in other parliaments. European Union [EU] countries have targets set under EU directive 94/62 EC dealing with waste minimisation and recycling that are backed by legislation.

In July 2005, the Environmental Protection & Heritage Council (EPHC) agreed to the proposal for a strengthened National Packaging Covenant, for a term of five years. The strengthened Covenant incorporates a number of changes designed to introduce more quantifiable performance measures and more rigorous compliance processes.

Fourteen companies were represented and covered the spectrum of industry sectors obligated to sign onto NPC Mark II. As participants explained their presence it became obvious that amalgamation of companies, which continues unabated, has a marked effect on NPC as executives are replaced. Two examples were provided where NPC involvement was cancelled by executive decision without reference down the line.

One CEO is reported as saying “I just bin letters from people I don’t know”. Several are now addressing the amalgamation of many companies that were already signatories. Twenty-eight amalgamations took the prize for the day!

But it is not all doom and gloom as many positive reasons for attendance went straight to the heart of NPC. The desire to commence with the correct packaging rather than try to offset at the end of use; and a mission to have all packaging to be recyclable were quite positive.

Reasons advanced why companies join, [over 650 have] include: -

• Broader environmental commitment and responsibility
• Save wasted materials, energy, resources, time and money
• Comply with increasing demand for eco-friendly packaging
• Avoid potential penalties from state governments under NEPM
• Be part of a successful voluntary approach that will avoid legislation and much more costly fees
• Help build a more sustainable company
• Save waste packaging going to landfill
• Become a ‘good corporate citizen”

Robin’s experience is that companies that signed onto NPC declared improved triple bottom-line business results and in all instances the benefits outweigh the costs. A number of examples were detailed and are often posted on signatories’ or the NPC web site.

If your company supplies raw materials to packaging manufacturers or is a packaging manufacturer then you should be a signatory to NPC. If you purchase packaging that becomes part of the supply chain or produce packaging waste then membership is also recommended.

The half day discussion session covered the salient points of NPC including costs and benefits, the key performance indicators used and the environmental impact of the scheme. This included a summary of the recycling targets set under the revised document - NPC Mark II. Basically industry has to increase the recycling rate from 48% to 65% without increasing landfill above 2003 levels. Non “recyclable packaging” has also been listed with 25% of it being mandated to be reused.

Plastics of all types have to improve the recycled rate by 10 or 15% over the life of NPC Mark II. The debate about plastic shopping bags will likely continue for sometime. Shopping bags are subject to Schedule 7 to the Australian Retailers Association Code of Practice for the Management of Plastic Bags which is part of the NPC but has totally different targets to the NPC.

Since NPC Mark II was signed off by EPHC members the Federal Government has changed and alterations have been made in all state and territory cabinets. At the next review no minister that signed off in 2005 will be at the table. If NPC Mark II will get a tick of approval or thumbs down remains to be seen.

Australia is now a signatory to the Kyoto Protocol which details actions needed for reduction of greenhouse gas emissions! NPC Mark II has no mention of the reduction of green house emissions although there are covert implications

AIG is also involved in another initiative to improve skills within the packaging industry. In association with RMIT University and Design Victoria [www.designvic.com ] AIG is promoting a program entitled “How to Profit from Design”

Written by Michael B Halley FAIP
Australian Institute of Packaging
Web site: http://www.aipack.com.au/

Overfilling silos can be prevented ........

Joe Lewis — 2008-02-28T17:26:52-05:00

The cost of overfilling your silo due to an unknown level sensor failure can be substantial.

I have blogged about this before but I still see people buying level sensors that have no way of telling you whether they are capable of functioning or not. Lost material, damaged equipment, cleanup, air quality fines and lost production costs can add up quickly.

Take a look at this video, it's dramatic and illustrates exactly what overfilling a silo is like. Then I'll tell you once again how to avoid this. Click here for the rest of the story!

Joe Lewis
Monitor Technologies

Biomass Processing Machines Feeding Green Fuel Needs in US and Europe

Don Dunnington — 2008-02-28T14:14:29-05:00

In "A Fine Grind," an article on biomass processing machines in the January/February 2008 issue of International Forest Industries, Chris Cann writes that one US company "has developed some of the foremost biomass processing machines in the world and is ready to take on the expanding European biomass market."

Using biomass for energy may be new to lots of industries, but it’s business as usual for the forest industry. "More than 60 years of experience in the business of biomass processing" Cann says, "has industry stalwart Jeffrey Specialty Equipment perfectly positioned to take advantage of the current surge in demand for biomass machinery."

Cann observes that the primary Jeffrey machine for processing biomass is the wood hog. "Those close to the industry would also know these units as hammer mills, shredders, and grinders – or just hogs. The company’s sales in the past have been dominated by its series 40 or series 50 ranges, which work at a rate of about 20-50 t/hour of material. But all that has changed quite recently and it is now the bigger models that are the best sellers," with the largest machines able to process 220 t/hour.

As examples of the direction the biomass industry is headed, Cann cites two recent orders filled by Jeffrey. "Jeffrey has delivered machines to two massive wood pellet mills that have just been established in the US, one of which is apparently bigger than anything else previously built worldwide."

He says European market is helping to drive the growth of biomass production in the US. "A large European market has been evolving for some time on the back of regulations aimed at fighting global climate change which have created incentives for power companies to boost their use of renewable resources. Europe already consumes nearly 8 Mt/y of wood pellets to run factories and power plants, and to heat entire neighbourhoods."

Cann interviewed Jeffrey Sales and Marketing Manager Doug Sublett for the article. Cann notes in his article that Jeffrey is well positioned to go global in the biomass market. "Jeffrey is a household name in the size reduction industry in North America where it does 80% of its business. But Sublett recognises the need for expansion and the opportunities available in international markets, particularly Europe…. This was part of the reason behind the company’s acquisition of Rader Companies in September last year for almost $16 million (funded by K-Tron). Rader manufactures and markets pneumatic conveying systems, screening equipment, engineered storage and reclaim systems, and truck dumpers for processing bark and wood chips for the global pulp and paper and forest industries. The company is based in Georgia but it has a headquarters in Stockholm, Sweden. Jeffrey intends to use that European base to increase its business in Europe and Russia."

Cann goes into great detail about wood hogs and the industries that are using them to process biomass. You can read the entire article on biomass processing machines on the Jeffrey website.

Don Dunnington
Blog Moderator

Interview Tips & Techniques #1: The Importance of Education Verification

Lisa Sprowls — 2008-02-04T20:00:10-05:00

My name is Lisa Sprowls and I am a Filtration Recruiter. I work on many sales, engineering, executive and management level positions serving the search and recruitment needs of both large and small manufacturers and distributors in the Filtration, Water & Wastewater, Separations and Environmental Industries.

With each and every finalist candidate that we present to our clients, we also provide a complete background check. Our background checks are provided by our parent company, BackTrack Inc., http://www.backtracker.com/. All reports provided include employment verification, education verification, social security trace report, motor vehicle report, reference checking and criminal records searches.

Today, more than any other time in our industry, more and more employers are requesting completed background checks prior to extending an offer to a potential candidate. With this in mind, it is very important that you, the candidate, provide a very clear and honest picture of your background to a potential new employer.

As with many situations, preparation is the key to success. The job market is very competitive and you probably will not be the only qualified candidate for a position. The deciding factor may simply be your background check. One minor exaggeration are dates of employment or degree, may remove you from the running. As a Filtration Recruiter, I have seen candidates not be considered for positions by what has been verified or not verified on their background check.

Let’s begin with education, one of the most commonly misrepresented areas of a resume.

With the advent of the Internet, there has been an explosion in the number of unaccredited or diploma mills schools. With the proliferation of sites on the internet promising “degrees for life experience”, “degrees without setting foot inside of a classroom,” “earn the degree you deserve in six weeks,” and others, it has become easier for people to simply buy a college degree without having the skills or qualifications necessary.

Emails containing these promises arrive daily in your in box. As these “schools” become more prevalent, you may be tempted to sign up, pay the money and receive such a degree as to make your resume appear more creditable. Be leery of these types of schools. In order for a background screening company to verify your degree, it must come from an accredited school not what is called a “diploma mill”.

For more details regarding diploma mills, click here: http://www.ed.gov/admins/finaid/accred/index.html
or http://www.ope.ed.gov/accreditation.

You may also choose to provide on your resume that you did receive a degree, when in fact you are actually just a few credits short or may still owe funds to the school. When a background check is conducted, the company will contact the school and provide to the employer that you do not have a degree. You may think this is minor, but to an employer, this becomes a red flag as to the type of person you are.

Come back often to view more interview tips and techniques that will assist you in your interviewing process. To learn more about our organization or what positions we may have that you may have an interest in, please contact me at 800-992-3875 ext. 313.

Lisa Sprowls

Filtration Recruiter

Recruiter Solutions International

8850 Tyler Blvd.

Mentor, OH 44060

800-992-3875 ext. 313

lisa@rsipeople.com

www.rsipeople.com

Level sensor mounting location for dummies.......

Joe Lewis — 2008-01-07T16:27:27-05:00

I might have blogged about this before so please bear with me if this sounds familiar, but it's very important.

Recently our senior application engineer drafted a story for our quarterly newsletter that highlighted the importance of selecting a proper location for the mounting of a continuous level sensor or inventory monitor.

Take a look at the picture here and you'll see his point. In this case the inventory in the silo is monitored using a smart weight & cable sensor. These devices are accurate and very reliable.

As you can see in the photo, the weight & cable just barely misses a cross-beam inside the silo. Making sure that you locate the sensor so as not to have obstructions within the path of the sensor is very important.

Want to read the rest of the story? Click here.

Joe Lewis

The Future of Manufacturing in Post Modern Times

Don Dunnington — 2007-12-11T16:00:55-05:00

PowderandBulk.com publisher Joe Taylor suggested it would be fun to do one of those year-end articles, maybe predicting what will happen in the New Year. Like, "Ohio State's football team won't be humiliated in the 2008 BCS bowl the way it was in 2007." (Joe couldn't help reminding me of how wrong I was in taking his dinner bet on the OSU-Florida game at the beginning of this year).

"Those who live by the crystal ball end up eating glass," an economist friend once warned me. So while I feel it's way beyond my limited powers to predict 2008 sports winners or the economy, I'm a bit more comfortable reflecting on what I've learned this year. In thinking over 2007, one thing stands out: the number of outstanding manufacturing facilities I've seen across the U.S. I've visited the manufacturing facilities of Gundlach Equipment Corporation in Belleville, Illinois, Pennsylvania Crusher's manufacturing plant in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, Jeffrey Specialty Equipment Corporation's plant in Woodruff, South Carolina, and Premier Pneumatics in Salina, Kansas.

Every one of these facilities is dedicated to producing capital equipment that in turn is used to add significant value to the processes where they are employed. Two of them, Jeffrey and Penn Crusher, have been manufacturing industrial equipment for more than 100 years. All have skilled workers, excellent engineering, design and production capabilities, and all have experienced steady growth over recent years.

There was a period in these post modern times when manufacturing was in decline, but it's been a growth business for these manufacturers. Talk to Mark Kohler at Gundlach or Marty Bates at Penn Crusher, and they'll tell you about how they've worked to increase production and shorten lead times for their parts and equipment. Since becoming part of K-Tron International's Size Reduction Group, Mark and Marty, along with their counterparts at Jeffrey, and most recently Rader, have begun collaborating to develop best practices and share production resources.

At a recent visit to Penn Crusher in Cuyahoga Falls, a suburb of Akron, Ohio, Marty Bates talked about how Penn Crusher has begun working with Jeffrey to improve the manufacturing capabilities of Rader, which was acquired in September of 2007. It doesn't take long in talking to Marty, or in walking through the factory and talking to the people you meet on the floor, to come to the conclusion that these folks in Ohio like making things. And they're good at it, too. So here's my observation for 2007 and fearless prediction for 2008: for those who have the skill, there's a very good future in manufacturing.

As for Ohio State: whatever happens, Buckeye fans had a better run than expected this year. No one picked OSU to be in the BCS, and if they can stay off the cover of Sports Illustrated they have a shot this time. Joe Taylor wouldn't bet a dinner on the game this time; so that's a good sign. I'm sure I'd find some folks at the Penn Crusher plant in Cuyahoga Falls who'll be rooting along for Ohio State on January 7, 2008, when they meet LSU at the Superdome in New Orleans.

Happy New Year to all and "Go Buckeyes."
Don Dunnington
Blog Moderator

Could not automatically write it!

Joseph Taylor — 2007-12-04T10:27:16-05:00

The November meeting of the Australian Institute of Packaging [AIP] took the form of a plant visit when members and guests visited Visy Automation in the outer Melbourne suburb of Coolaroo.

Visy Automation was formed in 1978 and specialises in the engineering and integration of high quality packaging equipment and robotic solutions designed to increase productivity, profitability and plant safety levels. The visitors came away with an understanding that almost all disciplines within the domain of Packaging Technology can be automated in some form or another. At this stage writing reports is not automated so it is up to me to tell the story!

Adam Lipscomb, Visy Automations’ Sales Manager for Projects, gave a most “automating” overview of the operation when he addressed the audience. Not one umming or arring or repeated comment came forth over fifteen to twenty minutes at the podium or three quarters of an hour on the shop floor; at the end although his voice was scratchy his enthusiasm had not diminished.

Team Automation comprises of dynamic engineers and development partners with significant experience in the packaging systems and flexible automation industries, offering customers full automation consultancy and project management services, the design and manufacture of special purpose machinery, control systems design and development, as well as all the necessary equipment support, service and training.

Adam related that he recently met a person who was confused as to the Visy business whether it was in packaging materials or automation. His response was that the two are intrinsically linked and that there is an obvious “synergy” between packaging material and packaging automation.

The stand out advice was that “in the competitive world market anywhere you can improve productivity and reduce OH&S risks you can achieve an overall business advantage” and in defence of redundancy it was mentioned that only “low value added” positions are generally replaced by automation. Underpinning automation there is always the desire to retain staff, knowledge and provide for more skilled employment with the resultant higher wages.

“in the competitive world market anywhere you can improve productivity and reduce OH&S risks you can achieve an overall business advantage”

Visy Automation claims to be the only packaging organisation “fair dinkum” about automation and is exporting its technology to the world. With eleven packaging partners across the globe and a joint venture in the USA – HartnessVisy Automation, Visy Automation has expectations of achieving US$80million in global sales by 2010.

Adam presented a number of Visy’s successful automated solutions including a high speed robotic palletising system from the HartnessVisy Automation joint venture that is palletising 120 cartons a minute and an innovative tray former that has cut cardboard wastage from 3% to 1%.

The high speed palletiser outlined cost approximately US$0.6M to install but delivered over a million dollars worth savings from light-weighting bottles alone compared to older ‘legacy’ palletising systems. The system is installed into one of the industries that Visy Automation targets and holds forth in the Visy Vision Statement “To be the most successful, innovative, customer relationship-orientated and cost efficient provider of packaging and recycling services to the Australasian food, beverage and primary industries”

Visy Automation builds all systems in house using the best available robotics and offers clients:-

The design, manufacture and construction of stand-alone packaging equipment
The supply, integration and support for world class 3rd party equipment
Automation and Packaging System project feasibility and specification
Project Management and facilitation services
Cost benefit analysis for automation and packaging systems projects
Development of long-term plant wide packaging and automation strategies

The automation of packaging systems can only make Australian Industry more internationally competitive increasing exports and decreasing our reliance on imports and Team Automation is waiting for your call.

The evening concluded with a presentation to the host and an automatic gravitation to a local watering hole to consider the messages received.

by Michael B Halley FAIP
Australian Institute of Packaging
www.aipack.com.au

Visy Automation
www.visyautomation.com.au

Let's work together on Wireless protocols

Joe Lewis — 2007-11-28T15:32:20-05:00

It seems like "dejavu". In the last couple of decades of the 20th century the big giant process instrumentation companies did battle to see who was going to be able to drive the standards for communication protocols. The big battles were between HART and Foundation Fieldbus that emanated out of the ISA SP50 committee.

If memory serves me, HART had become a defacto standard long before the SP50 was finished with their work and the first commercial products were available. The fight between Emerson/Rosemount and Foxboro, Honeywell and others was a classic.... and the user was not served very well if you ask me.

There are still three primary field instrument communication standards, e.g. HART, Foundation Fieldbus and Profibus. A recent research study reported that the first Fieldbus device was installed in 1997 and there are now almost 1.4 million Fieldbus devices installed around the world. However, this pales by comparison to HART.

How does this relate to the powder and bulk solids markets? Sensors, especially level measurement sensors, are used in increasing numbers in the monitoring of material inventory and aspects of powder handling and processing.

Wireless communication exists and is here to stay, especially as the cost for hard wired systems increases and the cost of wireless continues to decrease. Understanding the development of standards for wireless protocols is important for even the powder handling professional.

For more on this subject click here.

Joe Lewis