​Waste Today
Caleb Tidball

Waste and recycling environments pose unique challenges for keeping truck scales functional and profitable. Since most recycling and solid waste facilities are heavily trafficked, keeping a truck scale up and running can be somewhat difficult. Additionally, properly maintained truck scales provide a hedge against losing thousands of dollars because of inaccurate weights.

Recycling operations need to consider four factors to maintain scales and weighing systems: the scale foundation; hardware, load cells and wiring; inspection and calibration; and scale usage and movement. It’s also wise to develop a course of action for potential issues that could affect truck scales and weighing systems.  Full Article

McKinsey and Company
Guillaume Decaix, Matthew Gentzel, Andy Luse, Patrick Neise, Joel Thibert

Asset-intensive industries—such as chemicals, oil and gas, mining, metals, pulp and paper, and power production—have been turning to new technologies in their effort to increase the reliability and availability of their equipment, while keeping maintenance costs under control. Using digital tools and advanced-analytics capabilities alongside traditional lean techniques, they aim to predict and prevent equipment failures, increase labor productivity, and streamline the management of external contractors.

When companies get all of the requirements right, the results can be impressive. Leading players in a variety of heavy industries have used digital tools in dramatically reducing unplanned outages while boosting maintenance-labor productivity. Higher availability and a more-efficient workforce have increased profitability by 4 to 10 percent in some organizations.

But these lighthouse examples are the exception rather than rule. Many companies that have implemented digital maintenance and reliability solutions have seen little measurable impact. What makes the difference?  Full Article

Active Scale

Load cells are at the heart of how a weighing system works. Their technology has been refined to be as precise as possible. Today’s load cells calculate non-intrusive, highly accurate load measurement data. And when they are calibrated well, their accuracy measures around 0.03 to 1%.

Load cells are found in platform scales to provide an accurate weight measurement of the objects placed onto these platforms.  As freight weight is a significant factor when it comes to road safety, truck scales are vital in protecting truck drivers, fellow vehicles, and road conditions. Keeping them effective is an operator’s or manager’s first order of business.

Unfortunately, all too frequently, load cells fail. They undergo events that may reduce their functionality because they are easily the most vulnerable part of a weighing or scale system.

Figuring out what went wrong is just as important as knowing or learning how to fix it. After all, once you know what has happened, you can hopefully mitigate the chances of it happening again in the future.  Full Article