News
In November 2012, site work began in McCoy, Washington State, USA, on a grain terminal facility featuring SCAFCO Grain Systems storage bins. SCAFCO supplied three model 7885ES flat bottom bins each with a capacity of 378,000-bushels/10,300 MT and three model 3616SHBT hopper bottom bins each with a capacity of 55,000-bushels/1500 MT. Total grain storage capacity is in the range of 1.4 million bushels/38,000 MT of wheat. After nearly 12 months since site work first began, the facility is now complete and receiving grain by truck and by rail.
With the ability to receive grain at 40,000 bushels/1000 MT per hour and ship grain at 60,000 bushels/1,600 MT per hour, the facility is able to load a 110 rail car shuttle train in under 9 hours.
The facility, which is owned by Cooperative Agricultural Producers, Inc. (Co-Ag) and Pacific Northwest Farmers Cooperative (PNW), will benefit local wheat farmers. According to the Spokesman-Review Newspaper (Spokane, Washington, USA), it is estimated that the McCoy project could generate more than US$72 million in transportation savings over the next 20 years, plus another US$14 million in reduced road damage and accidents, since the grain won’t have to be transported over highways by truck. The facility will help Washington State maintain its critical grain export business.
Recently, SCAFCO Grain Systems’ Vice President, Dan Wambeke, attended the International Association of Operative Millers’ annual IAOM Pacific, Intermountain, and Golden West Tri-District Meeting and Technical Conference as a key speaker. This year, the meeting was held in Park City, Utah. Dan was able to arrange his schedule to arrive directly from East Africa. where he had been calling on SCAFCO Grain Systems customers. Dan spoke to the group of milling professionals about avoiding catastrophes and preventing injuries in grain bins.
Only a few weeks later, Dan boarded an airplane once again. This time he flew to St. Cloud, Minnesota, USA, for Kansas State University’s and Minnesota Grain & Feed Association’s Combustible Grain Dust Workshop. The workshop provided information about dust control, how explosions start and what can be done to prevent them. The group engaged in an in-depth discussion about the U.S. Occupational Health and Safety Administration’s (OSHA) specific grain handling and grain dust explosion standard. Included in the workshop was a demonstration of a grain dust explosion.
Recently, SCAFCO Grain Systems’ Regan Heaton was appointed to the Middle East/Africa Advisory Team by the U.S. Grains Council. Founded in 1960, The U.S. Grains Council is a private, non-profit corporation that develops export markets for U.S. barley, corn, grain sorghum, and other related products. Currently, the council has nine international offices and programs in more than 50 countries.
The advisory teams are an important asset to the council and play an important part in developing the council’s priorities and strategies. Regan’s term with the Middle East/Africa Advisory Team will last for two years. During that term, Regan will participate in meetings which contribute to the development of Council programs for stimulating demand and preference for U.S. coarse grains imports into the Middle East/Africa area.
It’s nearing grain harvest time in many areas of the World, and SCAFCO would like to take this opportunity to remind those involved in grain storage to follow these safety tips:
- Make sure all safety decals provided by equipment manufacturers are in place and in good condition. If a decal becomes damaged or detached, contact your equipment dealer or their supplier for replacement decals.
- Grain stored inside a bin/bin can act like quicksand, causing you to sink into the grain mass and even suffocate. Never enter a storage bin/bin without shutting off and locking out electrical power to all grain handling machinery beforehand. Use a safety harness and safety line. Wear a dust respirator and avoid the center of the grain bin/bin. Station a person outside the bin/bin to help in case of an emergency.
- Load and unload grain only from the center of the bin/bin and maintain an even level of grain height around the walls of the bin/bin. Failure to follow this procedure could result in structural failure of the bin/bin from unbalanced forces acting on the bin/bin walls. Structural failure could cause injury or death to persons close to the point of failure.
- Keep children and unauthorized persons away from your grain storage facility.
- Make sure that all personnel working on or around this equipment are made aware of the hazards and are given these safety precautions.
The operators of grain storage facilities should review these and other safety tips with all employees on a regular basis, and make sure safety tips are posted for continual review and awareness.
Recently, Kansas State University invited donors and vendors to visit the site of the new O.H. Kruse Technology Innovation Center. Over a period of four days, supplier representatives were called in to monitor the performance of the equipment that they had supplied.
SCAFCO Grain Systems made an important donation of grain storage bins and grain handling equipment to the facility. The feed mill will be part of the Feed Science and Management program at KSU. The equipment will support programs at both the Animal Science and Grain Science departments and the storage bins donated by SCAFCO will serve both for ingredient storage and for conducting large-scale grain storage quality preservation research.
In response to the KSU invitation, SCAFCO sent a sales manager and an engineering manager to commission the hopper bottom bins, chain conveyors, bucket elevators, catwalks and accessories. The SCAFCO team verified proper assembly and functioning of the bins and equipment. The SCAFCO equipment supplied to the O.H. Kruse Technology Innovation Center is now ready to be put into service.
KSU has planned a ribbon-cutting ceremony for October 11th where stakeholders, donors, vendors, and the public will be invited to visit the site and see the new center in operation.
SCAFCO roofs were originally designed to be used on grain bins, but some customers have found that they can work really well on other cylindrical structures. SCAFCO’s one piece, deep-rib roof panels provide outstanding load-carrying characteristics, which make them ideal for locations with heavy snow and ice loads and other extreme weather conditions. The roofs have a weather-tight closure and either 24 or 36 roof panels depending upon the diameter.
These roofs are easily adapted to fit on most cylindrical structures with a roof starter ring, which is a very short wall section that roof panels are bolted onto. The starter ring can slip inside or be placed over the edge of cylindrical structures. SCAFCO roofs have been used alone for capping concrete cylinders and to make gazebo and yurt roofs.
Recently, SCAFCO Grain Systems supplied equipment for the largest modern grain storage facility in the Ural Federal District in the Russian Federation. The project has a total grain storage capacity of about 50,000 tons, or about 1,650,000 bushels.
SCAFCO manufactured the grain bins, catwalks, bucket elevators, chain conveyors, and towers used on the project, and supplied the grain dryer and grain cleaner.
This grain storage facility is unique because it is the first modern facility of its size in the region. In celebration of the new grain storage facility, the local Governor has placed a time-capsule in the grain bin foundation. The time-capsule has a message to future generations and will be removed from the foundation in one hundred years.
Locally, there was so much enthusiasm and pride about the project that a local news team visited the site while construction was still underway. Interviews, which were later broadcast on television, were conducted with local officials who were visiting the site.
With help from SCAFCO Grain Systems, an Oregon State, USA, hospital is saving on their energy costs.
To meet the state’s requirement of having two sources of energy for heating, the hospital replaced one of their crude oil fired boilers with an economical wood pellet fueled boiler. The pellets that feed the boiler are stored in a SCAFCO Grain Systems hopper bottom bin.
Since the installation of this environment friendly upgrade, the 50,000 square-foot hospital’s heating costs have been cut by two thirds.