An area production manager for a leading national producer of readymix concrete had 10 chevron conveyor belts on 6 plants within the region. As is common in the industry, the chevron belts were proving a problem to clean effectively.
The conveyors in question had either air knives or rotary brushes fitted in an attempt to clean the belts. These systems only had a limited effect on the problem, with significant amounts of carryback material falling onto the floor which was then shovelled into wheelbarrows and removed by operators on site.
The air knives were particularly troublesome. In addition to not dealing with the carryback, they also created dust and used around 4kw of electricity each. As a result, many of these devices were not being maintained or had been turned off.
Carryback underneath one of the chevron belts
Over an 18 month period we installed 10 Starclean chevron belt cleaners across the region for the client, replacing a variety of air knives and brushes.
Despite variations in materials being conveyed, belt speeds and cleat heights, the client feels that there has been a notable improvement following the installation of Starclean in every case.
Whilst no solution is able to provide perfect cleaning results on a chevron belt, the client estimates that clean-up time and associated manual handling has been reduced by 50-70%.
The chevron cleaners have proven a simple and low maintenance solution. All 10 are the same model, and this standardisation has simplified both training and maintenance across the region.
Starclean Chevron cleaner in situ
In brief
How we made it better
Productivity – Less product waste, increased plant efficiency
Safety – Reduction in manual handling, removing waste from beneath the conveyor.
Quality – More effective cleaning helps maintain
batch accuracy
OF WASTE ELIMINATED PER WEEK
ESTIMATED PAYBACK
MISTRACKING DISAPPEARED