Safety Initiative
The auger hoppers used in contract packaging to deliver product to our packaging lines were identified as our num- ber one priority for safety modifications on equipment nearly a year ago. As a result, a complete redesign of these systems was accomplished by our internal staff. This was no small task as many hands needed to touch these pieces of equipment to reach our goal...and we had 35 of these hoppers that would need to be modified. After much thought and many changes, final plans were drawn by our internal engineering group for this project. The plan featured a category 3 safety circuit including safety sensors for various removable parts of the hopper which resulted in a piece of equipment that would not function if any of the safety features had been compro- mised. The finished new hoppers look and function like a high tech piece of equipment versus the basic machines that they previously were. While much time was devoted to this project on the planning side, it paled in comparison to the amount of time taken to do the actual work of modifying this equipment. Each hopper took at least 36 hours of labor to modify (remember we have 35 of them). The project in total took over one half mile of continuous welding and the use of 11,000 pounds of argon gas to accomplish. On top of that, each hopper needed to be totally rewired with new control panels being installed. This would be an ambitious project if it was the only project we had to work on, but it became especially difficult considering we had a full load of projects and new start-ups to support at the very same time. This project was completed over an eight month period of time – on schedule with an exceptionally high quality end product. A big thank you goes out to all involved in helping make our production floor a better place to work. Rumor has it that the next project is already on the drawing board and as always, we’re anxious to see it completed and ont he floor… guess that’s what one might call job security for our machine shop! Many of those involved with this project celebrated with an auger hopper cake (thanks Val Smith!). Nate Sullivan, Bob Pittman, Denton Yocum, Sam McBride, Ethan Veglio, Cody Brill, Jeff Karas, Steve Zellers, Rob Osborne, Matt Decker & Rick Rice Crest Sewer Project Complete by Steve Zera Believe it or not, our forced main sewer project is finally complete. Well, not totally true. As this is being written, we’re looking towards next week to make the final connection to the system and we’ll be operational by the time you read this. By June you should see no sign of the digging and construction and grass should be growing along Rt. 38 and around our West Facility. The only noticeable addition will be the lift and pump station directly north of the West Production office building.
4 Crest Ink April, May & June 2019
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