Customer Requirements
Chemique Adhesives is a global leader in the manufacture and supply of high performance industrial adhesives.
For over 30 years, Chemique Adhesives has provided premium bonding solutions for virtually any industry, including construction, transportation, marine, commercial production and beyond.
Chemique Adhesives produces a range of products using powders which had historically been ripped and tipped from sacks into a mixer on a platform by an operator. This has led to inconsistencies with the rate at which raw materials were fed into the mixer. Furthermore the raw materials were unloaded from a platform which was reached with a fork lift truck. This resulted in an unclean environment as raw materials often spilled out when being loaded.
System objectives:
1. Improve batch consistency
2. Improve hygiene
3. Improve safety
Spiroflow Solution
Spiroflow introduced a conveyor system to automate the batching of the product.
A sack tip hopper is located on ground level where the bags of raw materials are loaded into. Connected to a hopper is a model 80 screw conveyor which feeds a 75mm (3”) aeromechanical conveyor, elevating the raw materials past the mezzanine and into the mixer. A full electrical control included in the system.
The new Spiroflow system allows raw materials to be safely loaded into the hopper on the ground floor, eliminating the need for staff to climb the mezzanine. As a result the system is cleaner with the dust tight conveyor transferring the product up to the mixer.
The key benefit of the system is that the loading speed of the raw materials is governed by the conveyor, so the management team can determine how long it takes to make a batch. Previously they were relying on manpower to load the bags and the loading speed varied depending which team was on shift. Because the loading time can now be more accurately judged the machine running time has been reduced from 90 minutes to 60 minutes.
The Result
Simon Cashmore – Operations Manager at Chemique Adhesives commented:
“The solution presented by Spiroflow has allowed us to more accurately load bags
of raw materials into our manufacturing process. The whole system has resulted
in a cleaner working environment and every batch now runs for the same amount
of time. This was my first experience in dealing with Spiroflow but I will definitely
be using them again!”
After Sales
Spiroflow fully commissioned the equipment at the Chemique Adhesives factory.
The Spiroflow in-house service technician checked the equipment and tested the raw
materials running through the system to make the necessary adjustments. Spiroflow
has also supplied spare parts for the screw conveyor and provided technical support
when an issue occurred.
Simon Cashmore added:
“The after sales team at Spiroflow were outstanding. When they commissioned
the equipment the whole team received training on how to get the system running
efficiently for our product. When we did have a small issue an engineer was sent out
to us very quickly and solved our problem in a matter of minutes.”
