Packaging mineral products and custom premixes is no easy task. The work is tedious at best, as well as labor intensive (stacking 50lb. bags on pallets all day). A very dusty environment does not help. These factors led to high employee turnover at Harbor Point Minerals in Utica, NY. Harbor Point was looking for an affordable packaging system to do the tedious, backbreaking work so they could utilize their good employees at different tasks throughout the plant.

The system they were using was an Express Scale JMDT-2 Gross Weigh Scale. It claimed 8 to 10 bags per minute at +/- 2 to 3 oz accuracy. One person would hang a bag on the scale; when it finished filling, the bag would drop to the conveyor. In a cloud of product created from the bag dropping, he would then hang another bag. While that bag was filling, he would reform the first bag and feed it into the sewing machine - all while trying not to breath in the airborne product. It took another two people to stack the bags, remove and replace the full pallets.

It is true that 8 bags per minute is what they could achieve, but not for a sustained length of time. We also questioned the accuracy at those rates.We re-weighed a number of pallets and found that 20% of their bags were more than 1 lb. (or 2%) over the target weight. With an average of 75,000 lbs. of bagged product per day, that is a lot of product given away.

Harbor Point looked at numerous systems that were capable of increasing production with less labor, however the return on investment was anywhere from 5 to 8 years, and that was assuming no maintenance costs. Tracey Packaging, Inc. was asked to find a system that one person could operate, and that would have a realistic payback (3 years or less).

We decided to start fom scratch and designed a system with the criteria given - 3 years or less return on investment. What we ended up with is our own enclosed, fully automated bagging and palletizing system. It will pick up an empty bag, place it on the filling spout, dispense the product to a desired set weight, reform the bag, sew it closed and then palletize the bags.

We were able to produce 5 bags per minute with an accuracy of +/- 1/4%. While just a bit slower than the JMDT-2, it proves to be far more accurate. We have found that over the course of the day, the bagger finished the days work with time to spare. In fact, over the course of a week we found that the system would sit idle, proving once again that you don't need to go as fast as you think. A steady, consistent speed that doesn't need to shut down for pallet removal will out pace a system that runs quickly and then has to stop. In fact, we found that we can now re-route product from a second production line to the new automated system, allowing Harbor Point to better utilize 2 more of their workers elsewhere, reducing their actual cost of bagging the product and further reducing the payback from 3 to 1-1/2 years.

Need more info? Call us at 1-800-639-5664.

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Harbor Point Mineral Products - 71 Wurz Avenue - Utica, NY 13502 Phone (315) 797-1300 Fax (315) 797-5883

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