Bulk Silicone Sealant Delivery System
Historically, silicone sealants were supplied to bulk repackaging companies in 55 gallon drums. Although a drum recycling program had been developed with larger customers, many drums were wasted due to damage in handling; further, there was always a significant level of waste associated with drums because the customer frequently could not completely empty the drums.
A bulk sealant delivery system was developed to supply large customers with silicone sealant transported in bulk tank trucks. My role in this project was to serve as the project manager and lead design engineer to facilitate a complete system to deliver 44,000 lb. quantities of sealant to the customer and provide an integrated delivery process at each plant to feed online sealant cartridge and tube filling packaging machines.
During the first year of operation, over 200,000 drums were eliminated. This greatly reduced sealant delivery costs and greatly improved packaging productivity.
Quick Changeover Project & Training
By conducting an in-house training course on Quick Changeover Techniques for the operating and maintenance personnel, we were able to reduce changeover times by 90%, thereby greatly improving profitability. Many of the changes in operating procedures came from ideas that the operators offered and required little if any investment in capital.
In-Line Pigment and Sealant Metering System
Significant cost savings, flexibility, and waste reduction were achieved at several packaging customers' plants by implementing and in-line sealant and pigment metering system utilizing rotary metering pumps and dedicated static mixers. This system, capable of metering both high viscosity sealants and pigment pastes allows the end user to quickly switch from one color or formulation to another with minimal
waste product generated.
This system and others like it have lead to productivity gains and can be customized to meet each client's needs.