With the bag inlet secured to the downspouting , the automated weigh-filling cycle is initiated .
Bulk bag filler boosts pale ale malt Packing output with reduced labour
Thomas Fawcett & Sons Ltd required a more efficient system to pack pale ale malt into 350 kg ( 772 lb ) to 1,000 kg ( 2,205 lb ) bulk bags , sold across the UK and internationally .
Most of the company ’ s malt was previously supplied in 25 tonne ( 27.5 ton ) bulk lorry loads and 25 kg ( 55 lb ) sacks . When the company first supplied malt in bulk bags , members of the malting staff transferred batches of malt from preweighed 50 kg ( 110 lb ) sacks into bulk bags by wheeling the sacks on a sack truck on the upper floor and tipping them into a bulk bag held on a fork lift truck on the floor below . This was a three person job : one filling sacks , one tipping sacks , and one operating the forklift truck .
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Bulk bag filling no longer labour intensive Installation of a Flexicon TWIN- CENTREPOST™ Bulk Bag Filler and flexible screw conveyor in the packing room area has created a more flexible packing operation and saved operators from double handling of the malt . Brian Hickman , Thomas Fawcett & Sons , Malting Manager , says “ By installing the bulk bag filler , we save between six to eight hours of operator time each week .”
Flexible screw conveyor transports malt to bulk bag filler A bulk storage silo was fitted with a charging adapter for connection to a Flexicon horizontally-oriented flexible screw conveyor 7.5 m ( 25 ft ) long and
168 mm ( 6.6 in .) in diameter . From the conveyor ’ s discharge housing , malt flows through downspouting to the bulk bag filler inlet .
How bulk bags are now filled The bulk bag filler is equipped with an adjustable fill head that can be raised or lowered to suit all popular bag heights , and secured in place with two quickrelease pins . An oversized filling spout accommodates open-top bulk bags . Mounted on load cells , the unit can weigh-fill 350 to 1,000 kg ( 772 to 2,205 lb ) of malt into bulk bags . To fill a bag , the operator positions a 1200 x 1000 mm ( 47 x 39 in .) pallet on the filler deck and attaches the bag loops to each of four retractable bag hooks on the fill head .