Trends: Reducing Product Spillage

This month’s blogs will focus on important issues and trends in bulk material conveying. This blog looks at a key issue for many processors: reducing product spillage when handling and conveying material.

Consequences of Product Spillage

Material waste and loss

Spillage of product during conveyance can have significant consequences. Firstly, there is the loss of the material itself. This reduces throughput and yields. If the material has a high nominal value, the cost of spillage can be high indeed; for example, spillage of rare or precious metal powders may incur a significant expense in lost and wasted material.

Cleanup costs and workplace safety

A second consequence of product spillage is the cost of cleanup. Spillage of material may create an unsafe workplace condition if the material is allowed to accumulate on shop floor work areas, thus necessitating cleanup. In addition, spillage of hazardous materials may compromise worker safety by creating an unsafe work environment.

Equipment downtime

A third consequence of product spillage is loss of equipment availability. Spilled product which accumulates within the inner workings of conveying equipment may build up to the point where unnecessary wear and tear is placed on machine parts. If left unchecked, this may result in failure or seizure of critical equipment parts and components, leading to unplanned downtime and maintenance interventions.

Reducing and Preventing Product Spillage

Because of the significant consequences of product spillage, many companies are increasingly sourcing conveying equipment which minimizes or prevents the occurrence of material spills. These companies understand that poorly designed conveyors can quickly escalate operating costs by failing to address product spillage when material is being moved.

At UniTrak, reducing and preventing product spillage has always been at the heart of our conveyor designs. TipTrakTM bucket conveyors feature fully interlocking buckets where the space between adjoining buckets is completely sealed by a flexible rubber joint strip. Unlike conventional overlapping bucket designs, such as those found on standard conveyors, the interlocking bucket design of TipTrakTM equipment allows no spaces through which product may spill as it rides through the conveyor.

UniTrak Powderflight aeromechanical and Uniflex flexible screw conveyors are totally enclosed units which prevent product from spilling as it moves through the conveyor. In these designs, product is fully enclosed within the equipment`s outer casing, thus entrapping the product and ensuring dust-free conveying.

If you are interested in reducing or eliminating product spillage from your conveying operations, our application specialists will be pleased to discuss the advantages of UniTrak equipment.