Cement Americas

SPR 2013

Cement Americas provides comprehensive coverage of the North and South American cement markets from raw material extraction to delivery and tranportation to end user.

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FEATURE BASALITE BUILDING OPPORTUNITY NEW EQUIPMENT POSITIONS COMPANY FOR GROWTH BY INCREASING PRODUCTIVITY AND CAPACITY, DECREASING EXPENSE. BY MARK S. KUHAR CHALLENGE Make plant upgrades to meet a growing demand for its products. SOLUTION Construct a new dry-mix manufacturing facility. TIP Some of the materials handled at the plant have the potential for material segregation. To minimize that risk, a model DS-LCB2S level control bin was installed over each pair of valve bag fillers to provide a consistent head of material. B asalite Concrete Products ULC, is one of the largest suppliers of concrete masonry and dry mix products in western Canada and the western United States. A division of Pacific Coast Building Products, headquartered in Rancho Cordova, Calif., Basalite's product lines include proprietary pre-mixes, concrete repair material, grouts, mortars, custom pre-blended materials, shotcrete, masonry, and segmental retaining wall products. In order to meet growing demand for its products, the company decided to construct a new concrete dry-mix manufacturing facility in Surrey, BC, Canada. The company's wish list in- Bag transfer and conditioning conveyors, from left to right: CF-5030 square tubes conveyor, CF-5001 dual-belt bag flattener, OAR-2046 accumulation and bag alignment conveyor, CF-1224 pacing conveyor, CF-6100 in-motion checkweigher and OAR-2016 pick-up conveyor. The yellow AR-225 robotic bag palletizer can be seen in the background. 18 cluded state-of-the-art equipment that would improve efficiency, reduce employees' risk of musculoskeletal injuries, and accommodate future expansion. LAYING THE FOUNDATION Basalite selected Premier Tech Chronos "because of the technical support we received [from them] during the equipment selection process," said Dennis Ceolin, Basalite's general manager for Canadian operations. Equipment needed to handle a wide range of materials, and comprised a fully integrated valve bag filling line, robotic palletizing, and automated load unitizing. Some of the materials handled at the plant have the potential for material segregation. To minimize that risk, a model DS-LCB2S level control bin was installed over each pair of valve bag fillers to provide a consistent head of material. Two types of valve bag fillers were installed: A pair of impellor-type fillers bag material composed of particle sizes up to 200 mesh while a pair of air-type fillers bag material containing particles larger than 200 mesh. CHOOSING FILLERS As Plant Manager Randy Martin explained, "An impeller filler [model 801-MP] … fills bags with very fine powders, Portland cement, flyash, unsanded grouts, etc. This is wellsuited to these types of materials that tend to entrain a great amount of air if run through an air packer. Filling [with an impellor model] is CEMENT AMERICAS • Spring 2013 • www.cementamericas.com

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