 A
company in Binghamton, New York, whose product line includes hair and
skin care products, can now bring in truckloads of bulk bags instead of truckloads of paper bags and sending
them to
the dump.
This processing plant is the primary
manufacturing facility, and while talcum powder was already in their product
line, the decision to start making Baby Talc, and the fact that one of
their competitors got out of the talcum powder business, created a surge
in the business that over taxed the original production line. Attempts
to increase production capacity fell short of the market requirements.
They ordered all new bottling line filler equipment, which gave them the
capacity to bottle, but could not keep up with the line as far as supplying
finished product. The company contacted more than 10 bulk
processing companies to help
them design and install the equipment needed to blend and feed talc, bicarb
and corn starch to meet required production rates. Most of the companies
contacted were not able to engineer a system to fit within the limited
space constraints imposed by the company. Many of the companies were not
accommodating and were recommending bulk processing systems that were just too costly.
Louis Jagel, Manager
of Plant Engineering, needed someone who was willing to use the resources
of all products available on the market and bring what was needed together
to form the "processing system" the company required at a price they could
afford. Jagel chose Ingredient Masters Inc., because they were willing to
listen to the company's problems. During the listening process, it was
discovered that the problems were lack of space for most bulk processing
systems and the
manpower required to feed the system. Ingredient Masters also looked at
local labor rates, disposal cost of paper bags, loss of product due to
paper bag breakage, and insurance concerns for back and wrist injuries.
When they first recommended
bulk bags, they were not available from the talc supplier. Ingredient
Masters set up the supplier and worked with the company to find a bulk
bag that would work with talc.
 The
processing system was made up of Ingredient Masters' special bulk bag lifting frames
that stationed the bags over their bulk bag dispensers that controlled
the flow into a Scott continuous mixer where an injection system was installed
to supply fragrance. After the mixing was completed, the finished product
was dropped into a surge hopper to await transfer via a Hapman helix screw
to the feed hopper above the bottling line in the next room.
This bulk processing system allowed the
company to increase production from 20-75 bottles/minute, while reducing
manpower requirements, eliminating paper bag trash hauled to the dump,
and eliminating risk of a serious back injury from lifting numerous 50
Lb. bags.
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