Avery Weigh-Tronix weighbridge is cheaper by design for Harbro.

The design of an Avery Weigh-Tronix modular BridgeMont weighbridge has met three key requirements for animal feed producer Harbro Ltd¹s new Lesmahagow blending site.   It will save 60 percent of the cost of purchasing a new deck to meet an increase in production, has reduced installation time and is maximising productivity.

At the new site, grains, minerals and other additives are blended in various quantities to create the different feed types.  These products are stored in 28 bins that are erected over the new weighbridge to enable automatic out-loading. 

The vehicle drives onto the Œbridge and the driver selects the customer order details using the Avery Weigh-Tronix Evolution 1205 weight indicator.

Filling commences and each different product type is released into the back of the lorry until the required total weight is reached.

Harbro expects production to increase and may need to install extra bins and lengthen the weighbridge to cope with demand.  With a traditional one-piece weighbridge, this would require the entire scale to be replaced at a cost of around £20,000.  However, due to the modular design of BridgeMont, future site expansion is made much simpler as Harbro can purchase an adder module to increase the existing Œbridge length to 27 metres if required. At a cost of only £8,000 and with minimal building work required, this represents a significant cost saving.

By consulting Avery Weigh-Tronix at the beginning of the project, Harbro was able to minimise construction time and engineering expense.   Avery Weigh-Tronix advised that the pit-mounted BridgeMont deck should be installed before the bins were erected, meaning that the silo installation could be positioned at the correct height to accommodate a vehicle on the weighbridge, without difficulty or delay.

A further advantage of the silo construction is that the site can operate more efficiently as the weighing and filling processes both take place on the Œbridge.  This means that Harbro is saving fuel costs and maximising productivity because the vehicle does not need to be driven to another area of the site to check its loaded weight.

To ensure that this efficiency is maintained, Harbro needed a reliable,

local service supplier.   Production uptime is critical and having the scale out of action, even for one day could cost the company at least £150, as drivers would have to make over 30 journeys to and from a public weighbridge to ensure an accurate loaded weight.

Avery Weigh-Tronix¹s successful record for maintaining and calibrating the company¹s six other Œbridges located at three feed mills in Scotland was a key deciding factor and Harbro can now rely on a team of locally-based engineers to respond to emergency callouts, 24 hours a day.   Production Manager, Dr Mark Goodwill added, "Every single fault we have reported at any of our sites has been resolved within 24 hours day.  So when we needed a weighing system for the new plant, Avery Weigh-Tronix really was the logical choice."

Harbro Limited is part of the Harbro Group of companies and manufactures over 300,000 tonnes of animal feed per year for dairy, beef, sheep, pig and poultry farmers.  The client is now considering purchasing a second weighbridge for the Lesmahagow site.

Avery Weigh-Tronix
Foundry Lane
Smethwick
West Midlands
B66 2LP
UK

T: 0870 905 0065
F: 0870 900 0366

http://www.averyweigh-tronix.com/