Equipment Spotlight | NOV 2014 Truck Scales

by MARY M. COX

As the electronics market expands exponentially, more and more efforts are made to prevent discarded electronics from ending up in landfills.

In addition to simply monitoring the weight of a load, the waste and recycling industries rely on truck scale efficiency for personnel and vehicle safety, vehicle maintenance and regulation compliance.

Mettler Toledo produces more than 5,000 vehicle scales and vehicle weighing systems worldwide each year. Vehicle weighing products include steel and concrete deck truck scales, rail scales, upgrade and conversion packages for existing scales, DataBridge™ vehicle-scale software, accessories and service for all makes and models of industrial weighing equipment.

The company is one of only a few scale manufacturers that designs and manufactures its own vehicle weighing components, including load cells and terminals. It also performs lifecycle testing on truck scales with a physical testing machine that loads scales one million times to ensure long-term performance.

Kyle Madsen, vehicle weighing specialist, said, “Our vehicle scales are frequently used in demanding, high-volume applications such as municipal waste and recycling, agriculture, chemical, mining and more. Heavy capacity Powercell® load cells withstand harsh environments from Death Valley, California, to Antarctica and are equipped with the lab-tested and certified StrikeShield™ lightning-protection system.

“The leading cause of scale failure often lies within a junction box. A few years ago, Mettler Toledo pioneered the first load-cell system with no junction boxes. To ensure accuracy in business transactions involving material weight, Powercell load cells are also equipped with patented smart technology. By monitoring variables such as ambient temperature, these systems provide consistently high levels of weighing accuracy, even between scale calibrations. This protects businesses from hidden profit losses due to undetected scale errors,” Madsen said.

Rice Lake Weighing Systems is a global leader in the weighing industry with locations worldwide. The company is the largest scale manufacturer in North America. Rice Lake offers a full line of light, medium and heavy capacity static and in-motion weighing systems as well as unique products including legal-for-trade lift truck scales and on-board scales that can turn virtually any commercial motor vehicle into a legal-for-trade scale. Rice Lake Survivor truck scales are available with a 10 lb. display division. The enhanced accuracy and finer division size results in more accurate accounting of both inbound and outbound materials.

Joe Grell, vice president, heavy capacity products, explained the company’s comprehensive customer support: “Rice Lake is the only scale manufacturer offering 24/7 support. No other weighing equipment manufacturer has as many independent sales and service providers as we do. Some weighing equipment manufacturers offer proprietary products that can only be serviced by their own company service employees. Rice Lake understands that local service providers you work with today may change, or your enterprise may expand and require alternate sales and service providers. We also understand how a scale is a cash register of sorts, and how your business does not run without a properly functioning scale.

“We design our scales to provide a generation of service, not just service until the warranty expires. Regarding compliance, Rice Lake’s network of over 2,300 independent scale service providers can provide certification contracts on the local level. Our iQUBE2 diagnostic monitoring system sends an email to operators, maintenance personnel and the local service provider when inaccurate weighing occurs. Potential issues can be corrected before the operator is even aware that a problem exists.”

Grell noted that the firm also offers price computing systems that print a legal-for-trade ticket showing the commodity, price per pound and final price. The systems keep track of total transactions, inventory by commodity and individual transactions with export capability to a wide variety of accounting packages. “Our automated ticketing systems keep drivers safely in their trucks allowing more transactions and reduced ‘in-yard’ times,” said Grell. Along with truck scales, Rice Lake manufactures laboratory balances, test weights, bench and floor scales, load cells, tank and hopper weighing systems, process control instrumentation, railroad track scales and precision test weights.

For over 30 years, Vulcan On-board Scales has designed and manufactured on-board weighing systems for many applications and industries. “We have a large variety of on-board weighing options to meet each customer’s specific application, budget and goals. For transfer applications we have a variety of scales depending on the suspension of the truck and trailer used, including 5th wheels, center hangers, single points and air. Our V600 and V300 Series meters provide accurate weight data that drivers can use to optimize vehicle earning potential. For front loaders, we offer a front fork scale, body scales or deflection transducers. Rear/side loaders use body scales or deflection transducers. Roll-offs use our shear pins and hydraulic sensor.” stated Eric Elefson, director of sales and marketing.

He said there are a variety of benefits in implementing an on-board weighing system, but this depends on the user’s specific goals. There are various advantages that may result from putting a system in place. Residential and commercial vehicle efficiency is optimized by hauling the maximum legal payload on every trip to the landfill or transfer station without going to a platform scale. Overweight fines can also be eliminated, as well as additional travel to certified scales. Load transfer trailers can be quickly filled to the maximum legal weight at the loading point, without waiting in scale lines or driving to the nearest platform scale. Maintenance costs can be reduced and vehicle life increased by hauling loads that the vehicle was designed to carry. Liability exposure due to increased braking distance from overweight vehicles can be reduced. Commercial or recycling pick-up weights can be measured in an effort to optimize pricing or recycling rebates.

Elefson added that by investing in an accurate and reliable on-board weighing system a user can maximize the load and vehicle uptime while minimizing liability and safety issues caused by overloading.

 November 2014 Edition of American Recycler News