Power Adhesives stick with Spiroflow

Back in 1997, Spiroflow supplied four Bulk Bag Dischargers to Power Adhesives Ltd to assist them in automating their manufacturing process, to reduce manual handling, improve safety and increase efficiency. Established in 1974, Power Adhesives Ltd is Europe’s leading shaped hot melt adhesive specialist. They offer the largest range of high quality, competitively priced hot melt glue sticks and glue guns in the world. Power Adhesives products are sold under the TEC™ and TECBOND® brand names, through an international network of specialist distributors. Previously to 1997, pallets stacked with 25kg bags of each glue constituent were lifted to a mezzanine floor by fork lift truck. The bags were then manually emptied into hoppers for mixing. Steve Sweeney, Technical Director at Power Adhesives, recognised that; buying the chemicals in bulk bags and automating the discharging process would reduce manual handling by several hundred tonnes a year and dramatically reduce dust emissions, whilst also making the whole operation less prone to errors. Steve Sweeney first came across Spiroflow and their range of Bulk Bag Dischargers after reading a press release in an industry magazine. He visited their test facility in Clitheroe, Lancashire to see for himself how difficult materials, which had a tendency to block and bridge, could be reliably discharged from compacted bags. After witnessing several successful tests, Power Adhesives decided to purchase 4 Spiroflow Model T5 Bulk Bag Dischargers. Spiroflow’s Model T5 bulk bag discharger is specifically designed for restricted height areas. It has two sections, upper support frame and mainframe. The upper bag support frame is lifted off by FLT so that a full bag can be positioned on to it at ground level. Fork channels at the base of this frame mean that a lift of only 1.5 to 2 metres is needed to locate it back on to the discharger mainframe, where it is docked in place. The new Bulk Bag Discharger system allowed Power Adhesives to purchase the additives in 1100kg Bulk Bags, which reduced the cost of their raw materials, reduced dust emissions and reduced the cost of spent bag disposal. During 2004, Steve Sweeney completely reorganised the layout of the Power Adhesives factory moving the 4 Spiroflow Bulk Bag Dischargers to another mezzanine floor with no headroom restrictions. Full bags are now lifted into the Dischargers directly from the ground floor below by way of overhead hoists. The various ingredients are each discharged at the necessary rates of up to 100kg per hour to suit the particular batch formulation of which there are approximately 50. So, although the Dischargers are no longer operating in their original manner, they are still in service today and working perfectly to the customer’s entire satisfaction. From the discharge hopper the ingredients flow into a transition hopper, through a butterfly valve where they are transferred via vacuum to an extruder for processing. Steve Sweeney confirms, “The Spiroflow system was re-sited in 2004 and has allowed us to completely computerise our manufacturing process, it allows us to change product formulation in no more than a couple of minutes and also has dramatically reduced the probability of mixing errors.” To learn more about Spiroflow Bulk Bag Dischargers and Fillers, and their ranges of Tubular Drag Conveyors, Flexible Screw Conveyors, Aero-Mechanical Conveyors, and Vacuum Conveyors, visit their web site at www.spiroflow.com or call them on +44 (0)1200 422525 to discuss your specific requirements.