News
If you think SCAFCO silos only store grain, think again! This Model 3950ES in Japan is used as an enclosure for industrial gas byproducts. Inside is an enormous bag that contains these gaseous materials. It is vital that they not escape, which is why the facility relied on SCAFCO’s precision engineering and experience with custom design.
This grain facility is one of seven 100,000-ton storage sites around Nigeria that SCAFCO Grain Systems Company supplied in 2009. It features 20 5,000MT silos, as well as SCAFCO hopper bottom silos for storing wet grain before drying. All silos are equipped with roof stairs, which help keep workers safe!
On a recent trip to Chile, SCAFCO Grain Systems Company’s Latin America Sales Manager Sandra Dixon snapped photos at a pair of corn storage facilities. They may look similar at first glance, but look closer: They actually differ substantially from one another!
This customer has a total storage capacity of 18,600 MT (732,400 bushels) of corn, including flat bottom and hopper bottom silos designed for Seismic Zone 4.
This customer also has mix of flat and hopper bottom silos, but with a total capacity of 5,650 MT (222,500 bushels). That bright Chilean sky, however, is just the same!
Proper aeration plays a key role in successful grain storage. Want to maximize your profits by optimizing your aeration system? SCAFCO Grain Systems Company’s article in this month’s edition of Milling and Grain magazine tells you how! Just turn to page 94 in the print or digital version.
These six 21’ diameter (6.4m), 62’9” tall (19.12m) 2112SHBTZ4 SCAFCO Grain Systems Company hopper bottom silos were designed to withstand the treacherous earthquakes of seismic zone 4. Each silo contains approximately 200 metric tons (14,033 bushels) of parchment coffee, which provides this Colombian producer with a total storage capacity of 1,200 metric tons (84,198 bushels).
The quality of SCAFCO Grain Systems Company products often attracts repeat customers. This is certainly the case with this grain trading company in Mexico, which has just installed its third SCAFCO silo. The first was installed in 2007 and the second in 2011. With the addition of this third silo, the customer’s grain storage capacity now stands at 15,000 metric tons (590,645 bushels).
At SCAFCO, nothing is more important than safety. That is why our new eave platform has begun shipping as standard equipment on all silos equipped with roof stairs.
Configurable for left-hand or right-hand entry, this eave platform mounts one ring below the roof hatch. It includes guard rails that fully enclose both the platform and the exterior ladder with safety cage. In addition to the platform itself, SCAFCO will also provide a standard access ladder. This ladder eliminates the need for workers to kneel on the roof stair when it becomes necessary to look inside the silo.
At SCAFCO, we always say that “nothing is more important than safety.” For proof that we take this philosophy seriously, look no further than our silo roof stairs. Where many of our competitors use roof cleats like those on the left, SCAFCO knows that when you are on top of a silo, more secure footing is always better. Roof cleats versus SCAFCO’s real roof stairs: It’s like comparing apples to oranges.
This month, we will all wish Larry a fond farewell as he retires from a truly remarkable career in the industry.
Larry has dedicated over half a century to the grain handling sector. When he started in 1968, customers were still uncertain as to whether or not metal structures could store grain effectively. His work helped show the industry that they could.
Over the years, Larry has worked in acquisitions, sales, training, and marketing for companies like Butler, Pascoe/York, MFS-Global, and GSI before coming to SCAFCO in 2004. He has traveled to over 60 countries.
At SCAFCO, Larry is known as a man who can always be relied upon to share his knowledge. He has contributed his ideas to many innovative marketing campaigns, and his creative use of language has kept readers of this newsletter informed and entertained for 153 consecutive issues.
In his retirement, Larry plans to continue his travels for leisure, rather than business. He will also continue to use his technological skills to digitize a lifetime of photographs.
Please join us in congratulating Larry on his well-earned retirement!
Regan Heaton, SCAFCO Grain Systems’ Sales Manager – USA/Canada received a video taken from a drone by a SCAFCO dealer who had put up these two 4836ES SCAFCO stiffened bins for walnut storage. “The bins have full floor aeration and SCAFCO supplied catwalk supports,” Regan reports. The catwalks and and conveyors were manufactured locally. These still images are taken from the drone video. Peak storage capacity is in the range of 71,200 FT3 (2,020M3).
Sandra Dixon, SCAFCO Grain Systems’ Latin America Sales Manager, visited this construction site in Mexico of two (2) 10544ES silos. Sandra comments, ”I took the picture looking up at the SCAFCO ladder, safety cage, and safety rest platforms to show up close what is not so evident in a picture taken from far away. At SCAFCO, provision for safety is much more than words. Customer safety is engineered into our products.”
On a recent trip to New Zealand, SCAFCO Grain Systems Company Vice President Dan Wambeke visited a SCAFCO installation at a milking parlor. The larger Model 2016HBTTZ4 silo on the right stores ground corn. The two 9′ hopper bottom silos on the left store palm kernel expeller and soybean meal, respectively. Dan notes that the contents of the smaller silos can be extracted by activating a magnetic vibrator on the bottom of the hopper when a void is sensed in the silo, stopping product from flowing to the discharge.
This 18,000MT wheat storage facility in Kazakhstan was in the process of loading product out to ship to flour mills in the south of the country when Mitch Kreps, Regional International Sales Manager for SCAFCO Grain Systems Company, paid a visit. Delivered in 2008, the installation features six SCAFCO 5464ES bins with Double H flush-floor aeration systems and one 1814SHBT hopper bottom silo. “The silos looked to be very clean and well managed,” says Mitch. “The manager said they’ve been very happy with the equipment.”
This cattle company in Mexico processes 1.2 million head of cattle annually, which means they have a lot of feed to store. That’s where SCAFCO Grain Systems Company comes in.
At the end of March, SCAFCO shipped a 27,000 metric ton project to the company’s Culiacan plant. The shipment included two bins storing 12,500MT of corn apiece, four wet holding hopper bins storing 500MT each, and two 55MT hopper bins for loading trucks. Every bin is rated for seismic zone 2B and can withstand 195kph winds.
A SCAFCO Grain Systems Company dealer in Mexico provided these photos documenting the installation of a 10544ES bin. It measures 105′ in diameter by 43’8″ eave height by 73.8″ overall height. Built to store 10,000MT of corn, it also includes a Quad F aeration system with four 15HP centrifugal fans, a portable temperature system with 24 cables, and a 120MTPH sweep auger. Another bin of this type will soon be installed just behind this one!
99% of American hazelnuts (sometimes called filberts) come from the state of #Oregon. That is why the Hazelnut Growers of Oregon cooperative (HGO) relied on SCAFCO Grain Systems Company for their 11-million-pound, state-of-the-art storage facility!
At HGO’s yearly trade show on August 8th, SCAFCO CEO Jim McDonald and US/Canada Sales Manager Regan Heaton had a chance to view the nearly-completed project. So did over 1,000 attendees.
The scale of the HGO project is impressive, with a total capacity of well over 11 million pounds of hazelnuts: four 15’ diameter hopper bottom bins, one 24’ diameter hopper bottom bin, and four 48’ diameter stiffened commercial bins. Each bin includes a spiral letdown ladder with a 40 tons per hour fill rate. In addition to the bins, HGO also uses SCAFCO catwalks, catwalk supports, and support towers with switchback stairways. All this equipment was provided by SCAFCO dealer West Coast Companies.
“The workmanship was excellent, and the HGO event was a beautiful showcase for SCAFCO products,” says Jim (pictured at left).
Photos provided by Lori Segon Photography.