The 10 conveyors in the raw sugar conveying system suffered severe spillage and carryback as well as belt wander that originated in the accumulation of fugitive material on rolling components. Plant management made a commitment to solve these problems.

Martin Engineering provided a detailed engineering study that listed a number of recommendations. They included: moving the head pulley of one conveyor and the tail pulley of a second conveyor, lowering the overall height of a third conveyor, changing three conveyors to a picking-idler style to improve cargo capacity, installation of training devices to improve belt tracking and upgrading the belt cleaners on all conveyors to improve cleaning performance.

Results of the project showed great improvement. Plant officials report that the whole system runs much cleaner, and weekly cleanup was reduced from tons of material to pounds of material. While no formal payback study was done, plant officials consider the site survey and the project “money well spent.”