Kate Felton

How to save time on belt repairs: A grain handling case study

When you work in the grain handling business, ensuring your conveyor equipment is in tip top condition for harvest season is essential. Which is why Kerry Hickmott leans on BSC in Toowoomba for the support and supply of LOCTITE®product for preventative maintenance and belt repair.  “I run a workshop that primarily builds and repairs grain handling equipment for a major grain producer,” explains Kerry. “In Queensland we have two harvest seasons for grain – these fall over spring and summer. For this reason, we carry out maintenance and repair work from April through to September to make sure the equipment is in good condition for harvest.” Grain belts are, of course, critical to these operations. Business Development Executive for BSC in Toowoomba, Mark Brocherie, explains why. “When it comes to handling the grain, conveyor belts are commonly used. This rubber belting can tear from time to time,” he says. “If you do have a tear in the belt, it can lead to premature failure and consequently cause a lot of damage, including a potential breakdown.” According to Kerry, breakdowns have to be avoided at all costs.  “Downtime is not an option for us – if it does occur, it has serious implications for our business, not just in terms of immediate costs but in how those subsequent delays will affect our customers,” expounds Kerry. “It’s a competitive business. If people are waiting too long to drop their grain off, they will call another grain depot to make alternative arrangements.” Read More

Rexnord unveils new low-friction Case Conveyor chains

The ‘CC’ has given way to ‘LF’ as Rexnord upgrades its popular case conveyor chains, the CC600 and the CC600TAB with new low-friction versions – the LF600 and LF600TAB. The move to low friction conveyor chains has been gaining momentum in recent years, according to Troy Markland, National Product Manager for Power Transmission at Industrial Solutions Australia. “The market is evolving. Every plant is looking for chains that last longer and wear less frequently. When you consider that a typical plant replaces between 500 to 1000 feet of conveyor chains per maintenance cycle, the cost savings become significant with longer-lasting chains,” says Troy. The premium low friction case conveyor chains by Rexnord are manufactured in The Netherlands and are now available in Australia through Industrial Solutions Australia’s businesses – namely CBC, BSC and Webster BSC. “Our customers had heard about these chains being available overseas, and now we have them available locally across all of our branches,”
says Troy. Read More

A well baked solution for Suprima

The CRC Greenlight program sounded like the perfect package to Steve Carr, Engineering Manager for Suprima Bakeries, when he first learned about the program through John Perri, Key Account Executive at BSC.
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Schaeffler bearings support food processing and packaging

In food and beverage manufacturing, filling and packaging are the final steps before the products can be finally shipped out to customers. As such, any bottlenecks in the filling or packaging process can hamper the entire plant’s operation and – in case of perishable foodstuff – send large quantities of product to waste. Food packaging machines like bottle and jar fillers, tray packers, shrink wrappers and palletisers all have one thing in common: They all rely on rolling and linear motion bearings to carry out their repeated motions, from putting caps on bottles to folding the boxes for the final packaging. Read More

A single brand offering for rotating needs in the food and beverage industry

Food and beverage processing plants in Australia will soon have access to a complete range of corrosion-resistant ball bearings and ball bearing housed units from Timken® to meet their rotating equipment needs. Industrial Solutions Australia will have the new Timken products available across its business network of CBC, BSC and Webster BSC branches as early as May. Tony Tormey, Industrial Solutions Australia Product Manager for Industrial Bearings, says the new Timken products have already generated a lot of interest among the industry players. “The food market generally lacks a single brand solution when it comes to bearing requirements. Food and beverage plants that deal with harsh chemicals and aggressive washdowns can benefit from maximising their hygiene levels with Timken’s new corrosion-resistant range,” says Tony. The Timken Company have now, launched a new corrosion-resistant ball bearing product range for applications that require ball bearings to withstand chemical washdowns and wet environments. Read More

The making of Robmac nut harvesters

“We want to build the best machines that we can. Something that will last in the field for many years. To do that, we have to start off with the best components,” says David Eggins of Roberts Machinery, a family-owned company in Alstonville, New South Wales, best known as the manufacturer behind the Robmac macadamia nut harvester machines. David’s father, Robert Eggins, built his first peanut harvester and bagging machine back in 1959 when he was just 19 years old. In 1962, he started the business of Roberts Machinery, which has been designing, building and repairing farm machinery for over 59 years.  With the growth of the macadamia industry in Alstonville, Roberts Machinery became heavily involved in the macadamia industry and 23 years ago, introduced the Robmac harvester, a lightweight stand-alone harvester with the ability to operate efficiently in wet and dry conditions with very low soil compaction.  Today, there are over 240 Robmac harvesters in the field, and service and support of these units has become an important part of the business for Roberts Machinery. The team also runs a production pipeline with three or six harvester units under production at any given time, building an average of 12 to 15 Robmac units each year.
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Keeping the Tim Tams coming

For a lot of Australians, Arnott’s biscuits are associated with sweet memories. From growing up with a vintage Arnott’s biscuit tin, to introducing the delights of a ‘Tim Tam Slam’, Arnott’s products have lodged themselves in the hearts and homes of Australians throughout the iconic brand’s 155-year history. In fact, an estimated 95% of Australian households stock Arnott’s biscuits. Making tasty treats for the nation comes with responsibilities. The maintenance teams at Arnott’s factories work hard to ensure the plants run as efficiently as possible to keep up with the large orders Arnott’s receives. For Paul Nitschke, who works as Maintenance Services Team Leader at Arnott’s Marleston plant in Adelaide, working with the iconic biscuit manufacturer is a source of pride.
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Pump it up! Seal Innovations gives sugar mill full water flow

When technicians at Seal Innovations’ Acacia Ridge facility in Brisbane stripped down a hot water pump they had brought back from a major Queensland sugar mill, the pump was not in a good shape. The impeller, the impeller case and the wear ring were severely worn, the shaft had deeply corroded, and the shaft sleeves were covered with rust. For the team, it was just another day at the office. “Refurbishing rotating equipment and returning them to their original condition is one of the many services we provide to our customers,” says Lance Brett, National Sales Manager at Seal Innovations. Read More

Milking the happy cow image

The image of a healthy, happy cow grazing on a lush pasture is probably the first that comes to mind when thinking about Australia and New Zealand’s dairy products. And, for the most part, that image
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