DRY SYSTEM RETROFIT WITH LIQUID IMPREGNATION

Lyle Schaffer / Operations Manager
Pratum Co-op / Salem, Oregon

Q: What was needed on this project?

"With the growth of new customers and the growth of farms, we weren’t able to keep up anymore. So we needed to upgrade our blending capacity and also wanted to upgrade the efficiency of it."

Q: Why did you get Kahler Automation involved in this project?

"We knew that automation is crucial going forward, and we knew that Kahler is one of the leading automation experts in the field."

Q: How has productivity improved with your Kahler system?

"With the automated system we can blend product quicker. We used to have hand-adds we’d have to manually add. Now automating a lot of those has cut down on the time it takes to blend them. I would say we’ve eliminated 90% of our hand-adds with this, and about 20% of our loads have a hand-add in them. So by eliminating those, that really sped up the process."

Q: How have loadout times improved?

"We were running about 60 tons an hour max capacity, and now we’re running up about 120 tons an hour. So nearly doubled our output."

Q: How has accuracy with inventory improved with Kahler?

"After we put the system in, we realized that not only we’re having a true complete weight on the fertilizer blends, now we had an accurate weight on each individual component. We’ve been really happy knowing that our inventory is correct, and we’re billing in the correct inputs for each load."

Q: How has billing been streamlined with Kahler?

"With everything being spot-on, we realized we’re able to actually invoice at the point of loading. So now everything is billed out in real-time as it gets loaded."

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

"The support from Kahler really helps us keep things rolling. When we have a problem they’re just a phone call away, and if you have an emergency they’re right there to fix it. They’re always there when you need them."