Liquid Agronomy Center Automation
24/7 Unstaffed Loadout & Receiving With The Latest Flow Meter Technology
Project: Cooperative Producers, Inc., Hastings, Nebraska
OVERVIEW
Cooperative Producers, Inc. sought to get more speed and efficiency in their load out operation to fulfill current demand. The facility uses the latest fluid reading technology to achieve the highest accuracy and speed for efficiency in their load out operation. The system design allows the CPI team to be more productive and efficient, and keep their applicators and customers running with minimal wait times.
WHAT THEY NEEDED
Cooperative Producers, Inc. (CPI) wanted to transform their business with an all-new agronomy center to better serve the regional demand of customers. The new facility would be a massive upgrade in both size and efficiency, serving as CPI’s primary retail/wholesale liquid fertilizer plant to load delivery equipment and applicators, and supply existing liquid fertilizer plants. They needed to load out trucks much faster, with industry-leading speeds to drastically reduce wait times. CPI wanted to handle at least 200 orders per day using two different ERP interfaces, and with multiple operators running the system simultaneously. The intent of operation was to have dedicated bays operate for wholesale as well as ag retail, and multiple loadout bays with 24/7 unstaffed automated loading capabilities for bulk NPK, liquid blends, and chemical blends.
Cooperative Producers, Inc
The CPI facility features a tank farm for fertilizer along with indoor bulk chemical storage. Product can be received by rail or truck.
Driver Touch Screen
Drivers simply input their driver and order numbers for quick and accurate dispensing.
24/7 Unstaffed
The facility features 24/7 unstaffed capabilities with keypad entry units to provide drivers scale pre-staging and door control for secure building access.
Mobile Tablets
Tablets allow managers to easily check the status of bays, valves, and pumps to configure systems from anywhere on site.
Bulk Chemical System
The bulk chemical system features 100 legal-for-trade flow meters to allow dispensing to mini bulks and simultaneously to each bay for load out. Each container can be labeled and identified by a barcode for accurate inventory.
In-Bay Control
In-bay controls allow drivers to start and pause orders, get notified when an air purge completes the load out process, and print receipts.
Micro Products
Micro products can be quickly added from totes or from smaller containers with a 55-gallon weigh tank.
Accurate Delivery
Two tunnels beneath the building house each bay's plumbing including flow meters, strainers, valves, and air solenoid panels to ensure all products are delivered accurately and quickly.
Multi-Bay System
Wait time is minimal with seven bays - six can be used for product dispensing while two can be used for receiving. This system is able to load six trucks in under 20 minutes.
WHAT WE DESIGNED
CPI constructed a new fertilizer/chemical facility in Hastings, NE, that features seven access-con-trolled bays to dispense and receive product. Bays one through three are for load out of fertilizer products only, while bays four through six have capability to load out fertilizer and chemicals. Receiving can be done by rail or by truck in a dedicated receiving bay or additional multi-use bay. Six bays feature Kahler Automation’s Self Serve 2 software for after-hours dispensing, and two bays have Bulk Receiving 2 soft-ware for after-hours receiving. For unstaffed dispensing or receiving, drivers input their order number at a Touch Screen Access panel to initi-ate the process. Behind the scenes the Kahler Terminal Management TMX® software processes orders simultaneously from the agronomy interfaces, and manages all data as-sociated with plant operation. When staffed loading is required, operators use Plant Supervisor PSX® software to dispense to the truck bays and use Container Filling 2 software to fill and easily manage tote inventory.
WHAT THEY HAD TO SAY
Greg Adams, Ass’t Location Manager, Cooperative Producers, Inc.
“Pretty easy to get ahold of (Kahler’s service team) if we have any pressing issues; somebody will take care of our issues right away.”
Rob Evers, Location Manager, Cooperative Producers, Inc.
“Mixing a truck load for our sprayer used to take us anywhere between 45 to 50 minutes; now it takes us 15 minutes to load. Before, four trucks would take us half a day and it’s now taking us 20 minutes in total.
“Our new container fill system that we have with Kahler helps us to see exactly what is in each container through our Micro Motion sensors, and prints out a label that we can put right on the containers. It helps us take a better, accurate inventory.”