Starclean success at Tarmac Innovation Challenge

The ConSpare Ltd and ProSpare Ltd group have been UK distributor for Starclean conveyor belt cleaners for two years now, and since day one we’ve had a feeling that we’re onto something very special. Feedback from the industry continues to be extremely positive and we’re solving a whole host of conveyor problems across the country. A recent sign of this success took place at The Manufacturing Technology Centre, Coventry, where we were commended finalists in the Tarmac Innovation Challenge.

Tarmac Innovation Challenge

Tarmac is one of the UK’s leading building materials and construction solutions businesses. It has over 400 locations, including; 120 quarries, 100 concrete plants and 74 asphalt plants. The company was looking for fresh ideas from the supply chain to help contribute to innovation, productivity, customer excellence and efficiency in areas including health and safety, business optimisation, logistics, sustainability, asset management and the implementation of new technology. To gather these ideas the company ran the Tarmac Innovation Challenge, a novel platform to engage with the supply chain.

Starclean commended as a Top 5, “runner-up”, innovation

We initially submitted a written proposal and video entry to Tarmac outlining the engineering benefits of Starclean. Around 200 entries were submitted, and from this field we were then chosen as one of 14 finalists. This led to the exciting opportunity to present our Starclean pitch to a panel of Tarmac’s senior management. I’m pleased to say that we achieved a commended Top 5 place finish, a real feather in the cap for both the Starclean product and the Bulk Handling Department.

Presenting the benefits of the innovative Starclean system was a pleasure, as there are so many! Starclean, simply put, is a leap forward in belt cleaning technology through nothing other than good mechanical engineering. It provides excellent cleaning performance and is extremely simple to maintain. The modular design also offers real scope for standardisation across belts and applications.

Innovative in this case though doesn’t mean new or untested. The system is installed worldwide, with around 300 installations in the UK, of which 50+ are within the Tarmac group. Starclean is proven to reduce conveyor downtime, wasted material, manual handling, clean-up time, power consumption, harmful dust emissions and the many health and safety risks associated with material carryback. I feel that the impression Starclean made at the event shows that well engineered equipment should be at the heart of every production facility, it’s often the key to deliver a wide range of improvements.