Declining Weight Blending Automation

Scale, Drag Conveyor, And Fertilizer Mixer Controls

Project: Star of the West Milling Co., Emmett, Michigan

OVERVIEW

Star of the West expanded their dry fertilizer operation with a new facility at their Emmett, Michigan location using a Declining Weight blending system.

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WHAT THEY NEEDED

Star of the West needed to update their worn-out dry fertilizer facility at Emmett with a cost-effective solution that would provide excellent blend quality and capacity of up to 100 tons per hour. The system needed to be legal-for-trade without use of truck scales to prevent bottlenecks. And they wanted the same type of system as another Star of the West location to allow flexibility of personnel operating between sites.

A few mouse clicks in the control room will assign trucks to orders & dispense loads.

Loader Light Signals

Indicator lights signal the loader operator to when product can be added.

Loadout Loader Controls

One person can load out & operate reclaim from tablet controls in the loader.

Truck Scales

Direct-to-truck legal-for-trade loading without a truck scale streamlines operations.

System Controls

System controls 6 main products, 3 micros, and respective liquids for optimum agronomic blends.

Remote Touchscreens

The remote touchscreen provides the ability to run the system manually if needed.

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WHAT WE DESIGNED

• Productivity & precision-focused control in a small footprint & high return on investment

• Direct-to-truck legal-for-trade loading without truck scales for facility flow

• Controls & software common with other facilities are great for personnel management

• Electronic order integration eliminates paper & manual entry errors

• Streamlined ticket data supplied by the Kahler Automation software for fast & accurate accounting

• Blend analysis calculated & provided on delivery tickets for customer clarity

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WHAT THEY HAD TO SAY

Nathan Duckert, Facility Manager

Interview with Nathan Duckert, Facility Manager, Star of the West Milling Co., Emmett, MI

Q: How does Kahler Automation help you achieve your business goals?

“Kahler’s very good at keeping inventory and being able to put it into our computer system from an order all the way through, and for anybody to track it at any point. ... Tracking inventory on the system is simple, and daily reports are easy also.”

Q: How has productivity improved with your Kahler system?

“If I had to put a number on productivity, it’s probably 5- or 10-fold from our old system. It’s just astronomical how fast we can move product through this system.”

Q: How does Kahler Automation training and support help your team?

“We can call pretty much at any time... to get any questions answered. Kahler will go the extra mile and help you out.”