Habasit America Blog

Habasit America Helps Power a Boat

HabasitLINK plastic modular belting has been used in lots of different applications; from bakeries to automotive manufacturing; from candy bars to distribution centers. But as propellers for a boat! Now that puts a new spin on Solutions in motion!

Academia Avance located in Highland Park in Los Angeles, CA decided to do just that. Since 2010 Avance Seniors have participated in the SolarCup competition. 40+ schools from Southern California compete in May on Lake Skinner near Temecula. They build a boat and then race it in two different race formats; endurance – two 90 minute heats and sprint – two 200m heats.

Since 2010 Avance Seniors have participated in the SolarCup competition. 40+ schools from Southern California compete in May on Lake Skinner near Temecula. They build a boat and then race it in two different race formats; endurance – two 90 minute heats and sprint – two 200m heats.

For the 2013 competition, they designed a propeller type boat. They took their past experiences and engineering ideas together to design a new concept for this year. After much research, they came across HabasitLINK plastic modular belts. They believed that the flights used on plastic modular belting could work in their favor in this paddle system.  

Avance reached out to Habasit America to see what we could do to supple them with belting and flights for this project. We were happy to contribute to this innovated solution! After many emails and phone conversations between our Engineer Jeff Delair and the Executive Director Ricardo Mireles, it was decided that the best solution for this project was the M5032 Flush Grid belt with molded sprockets and the M5010 Flat Top 2” flight and Flat Top 4” bucket flight.

They are coming along quit nice with their boat and will be putting it in the water soon to test it.

Academia Avance call themselves a “Life Preparatory Charter Public School”. The school started in 2005 with 100 students in the 6^th and 7^th grade and 100% of the 2012 graduating class were accepted into a 4 year college institution. Academia Avance promises a rigorous preparation course for college and real-world experiences in a professional setting. The Faculty Team believes that everyone has the right to a college education and they are dedicated to helping each student get there. For more information about the school, click here. 

Habasit Depends on Material Handling

The U.S. economy has recently experienced the Great Recession and the subsequent weak recovery has put a premium on companies maintaining tight supply chains and optimizing inventory distribution. As a result, retailers have taken a multichannel approach by selling goods online, through smart phones/tablets, in stores and, in some cases, still via catalogs. The retailer strategies for distribution centers and stores are changing. Distribution is not just about supplying store locations with goods, but it is also about internet order fulfillment. In a survey of retail companies by NREI and Jones Lang LaSalle, 92 percent of retailer respondents sell goods online. In addition, 68 percent have bricks-and-mortar stores while 64 percent also sell goods through catalogs.

In their September 20, 2012 press release, the Conveyor Equipment Manufacturers Association (CEMA) reports that overall industry orders (bookings) for the first 6 months of 2012 increased 22.79 percent compared to the same period in 2011. CEMA estimates industry billed sales (shipments) for the first 6 months of 2012 increased 30.37 percent compared to the same period in 2011. Though bulk material handling orders make up a large portion of the sales dollar increase, unit handling orders were up 10.0% and shipments were up 22.1 percent. The Material Handling Equipment Forecast (MEHM) released by Material Handling Industry of America (MHIA) estimates that material handling equipment orders are forecasted to grow 8.0 percent to 9.0 percent in 2012 and 6.0 percent in 2013. Residential and non-residential construction, if forecast holds, will contribute greatly to a positive growth 2014 and beyond.

Habasit America’s position with the major Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEM) in the Material Handling Segment has been a key to our success this year and we hope this will continue through 2013. The success of our Buffalo, NY manufactured products (nonwoven, Ulti-Mate®, and TrackMate®), powerturns, N-Line, HabasitLINK®, HabaCHAIN®, and HabaSYNC® products used by many of these OEMs, combined with the innovation and product choices that Habasit has to offer, allows us to maintain a favored position with most of the major manufacturers in this industry.

Habasit Customer Care Gets a Facelift

Habasit America’s Customer Care Department recently got a facelift, new cubicles that open up the area and lead to better communication and an improved Customer Experience. Customer Care has been segmented into three regions, North, Southeast, and West, which represents our field sales regions. Each region has a single supervisor, multiply CCRs and a technical representative. All CCRs within a region work together to focus on the Customer and deliver the best possible Customer Experience for everyone they interact with.

Supervisors for each region are: North – Joe Sopke, Southeast – Rick Stone, West – Billy Rostad.  

Rossi is gearing up for Minexpo! This 12 ton demo unit is on it's way to Vegas for the show that starts on Sept 24th.

I Need A Hero

Remember the old (well, 80s) song by Bonnie Tyler I Need a Hero?  “Where have all the good men gone? I need a hero!” Many people want their customer service representatives to be a hero. Customers call with a problem and they want to hear you say “no problem, I’ll handle that for you”. Customers email a quote over and they expect to receive a response in a timely fashion. And when they place an order, they expect top notch service from beginning to end. This is true in the consumer world just as much as it is in the business world. Do you expect to walk into Apple and not get greeted within 15 seconds and asked “how may I help you”? And when you order something on-line from Amazon and it’s out of stock, you expect to be told immediately, not three days later after you thought your order was being processed.

Customer service representatives take a lot of abuse on the front lines and a lot is expected of them. That is why your best men/women need to be your front line. They should also have a couple important qualities about them.

Listening to the customer. Allow the customer to give all of the details regarding the situation, and then ask questions to find out even more details so that all of the information required to deal with a situation is available. Repeat what you heard back to them, letting them know you are listening and understand what they are telling you. 

Quick Responsiveness. Providing prompt, efficient service is key to customer satisfaction. Customers want to feel that their time is valuable, and a disappointed customer can be a liability to a company's reputation. Customer service representatives must be able to quickly yet thoroughly address each customer's needs. Whether it’s returning an email or quote in a timely fashion, or following through on a special project to get the answer needed. Being prompt is expected.  

Being Organized. A customer service representative needs to remain organized during each call, and keep general product and company information organized as well. A customer service call requires rapid responses from the associate, and only an organized associate that has kept good notes during the call, and has product and company information readily available will be able to handle the situation properly.

Being Pleasant. Being cheerful in the face of adversity is an important quality of a good customer service representative. Customers can sometimes unleash tirades that would make the average person crumble, but a good customer service associate is able to maintain that cheerful demeanor, and calm the customer down or at least know that they did the best job they could.

At Habasit America, we know how important our customers are….how important YOU are. It is our goal to exceed your expectations and to become “Best in Class” in the light weight conveyor belt industry. Let us know how we are doing. We welcome your comments and feedback.

Find us on Facebook, Twitter, or YouTube and let’s connect! You can also learn more about Habasit and our products by visiting us our website. 

Habasit knows hygiene

The creation and maintenance of optimal hygiene conditions is one of the greatest challenges faced by the food industry today. As a result, hygienic design and ease of cleaning are important prerequisites for equipment and components used in hygiene-sensitive food processes. Conveyor belts have a key role to play as they are often in direct contact with food.

The Habasit HyCLEAN plastic modular belt products have been developed to improve hygiene conditions and cleaning procedures in food processing areas. 

The HyCLEAN package supports process improvements, risk reduction and cost savings. Check it out in slow motion in the video below. 

For more details, contact us today at 1-800-458-6431 or info.america@us.habasit.com.

 

 

Habasit has protein covered

The FDA Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA), the most sweeping reform of our food safety laws in more than 70 years, was signed into law by President Obama on January 4, 2011. It aims to ensure the U.S. food supply is safe by shifting the focus from responding to contamination to preventing it, outlines Mike Peach, Industry Segment Manager for Habasit in America.

Peach states that the protein industry (meat, poultry, seafood, etc) is a segment of strategic importance to Habasit globally and one where the company has and will continue to invest heavily in new products and solutions that help the end user add profit to their bottom line while improving sanitation standards.

Metal detectors are common in all food plants but they cannot identify non-metallic items, and for this reason X-Ray detection is becoming more popular among food processors. Peach states, “The initial investment is higher, but more companies, especially the larger ones, are installing them for added food safety which is why we offer multiple products in X-Ray detectable materials.”

Color is important as well. If a plant is using some kind of visual recognition technology or wants their employees to differentiate by color, “there is a trend toward blue belting as there are no natural foods of that color,” says Peach. Other major lines in the Habasit family include Cleanline, noted for its ease of cleaning and high release characteristics. Another, Cleandrive™, combines fabric and plastic benefits. “It has been well-received where there are particularly high sanitation requirements,” adds Peach. “Our fabric belts are also noted for their tight transfers over very small pulleys or nosebars and from one belt to another – this provides very gentle product movement.”

In summary, Peach concludes that Habasit has a wide range of solutions for the protein industry and the Habasit Key Account and Industry Key Account Managers are actively playing their part in helping protein processors continue to make the industry safer for all of us.

Don’t forget to check out our videos on YouTube!

 

Joining belts with ease

One question we get asked a lot is 'how do I join this belt?' Habasit has put together several "How To" video's and posted them on our YouTube Channel. Here are two of the most popular: Proper joining of a polyamide core or flat drive belt and one on our popular adhesive free belt joining kit.  

 

 

 

 

Where is that again?

Six weeks ago we launched a new website design. While we have continued to make improvements to it, I wanted to take a minute and run over some of the key features that you will find with this new design. These seem to be what we are getting the most questions about, so I thought it best to put together a quick reference list.

1. First of all, we now have ONE site that encompasses all of our products. No more individual sites for different product ranges. You’ll find everything you need in one stop; www.habasitamerica.com
2. A log in for literature downloads is no longer needed. All literature PDFs can be downloaded from the Services menu.
3. Our newest feature, Customer Connect, allows customers to view their orders, shipments, quotes and our fabric belt inventory. This feature you must register for before you can access it. From the Customer Connect link on the left hand side of the page is where you access this feature to login or register.
4. The login button on the top of the page is for our Premier Distributors only. This allows special access to Premier’s for training sessions and newsletters.
5. The search feature has been optimized and you can quickly find joining sheets or product data sheets by simply typing in a few keywords. For example, to locate the joining data sheets for MAM-04H, type ‘joining MAM-04H’ into the search field. All viable information regarding this product will be displayed.
6. All Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS) can be located under the Fabrication menu at the top of the page. Please make sure you download the EN/US version!

There is SO much to explore on our newly designed website! I hope everyone has had a chance to navigate it. With all new things come some growing pains and adjustments, should you need any assistance with locating something, please ask. Anyone at Habasit would be happy to help walk you through the process!

Don’t forget to stay active with us! Follow us on Twitter, Like us on Facebook, and check out our YouTube Channel. We love hearing from you!

 

Saving the bacon

Habasit America helps a major bacon processor realize significant cost savings

It’s been said that bacon can make everything taste better. Chefs and other food prepares seem to be putting that axiom to the test, because bacon is showing up in all sorts of non-traditional ways (including bacon-flavored ice cream!). All of the new uses for bacon have created a market for pre-cooked varieties used in the home, sandwich shops and large-scale food production facilities.

A well-know processor of microwave bacon in the Midwest was utilizing plastic modular belt to convey bacon slices and bits through a microwave oven. This is normally an efficient way of cooking large amounts of bacon. The processor recognized that the belts wear out and have to be replaced every four to six months. Habasit was invited to look at the process to introduce its M2586 belt, which was designed specifically for the microwave bacon industry.

Habasit representatives discovered that, in addition to replacing belts with greater regularity than necessary, the food processor experienced many other issues that resulted in downtime interrupting production. After surveying the maintenance staff and line workers, it was determined that these interruptions were caused by the current belt being used.

Just like when you’re cooking bacon in a pan at home, the frying process produces grease that is highly flammable. The same holds true for microwave bacon. The excess grease has a tendency to build up on the modular belt, causing flame ups. An unwanted flame in a high-speed bacon facility can be a safety hazard for workers.

Other production interruptions occurred when retaining pins on the belt would start to work their way out. This resulted in conveyor jams and belt breakage, which left gaps in the conveying surface where the bacon would fall through.

The production team at the bacon processor was pessimistic about the ability of the Habasit belt to solve a problem they didn’t even know they had until it was pointed out to them. However, because they’re continually looking for ways to improve productivity and throughput, they gave Habasit a chance to prove their belt.

Into the frying pan

Habasit accepted the challenge to show the processor how to add life and uptime to their process.

Habasit and a local distributor worked side by side with plant maintenance personnel to install the first belt. It required some adjustments to be made in the transfer areas where cooked bacon is transported to another conveyor and readied for packaging.

The clock was now ticking on Habasit’s belt. The bacon processor and Habasit agreed on a schedule to benchmark the belt in three month increments. After the first three months, there were no signs of wear to the belt and a noticed reduction of flame ups. After six months, when the competitor’s belt would normally be replaced, there were still no signs of wear. After 18 months, the Habasit M2586 had lasted three times longer than the competition. In fact, the belt was still running after 24 months but was becoming discolored in the cooking lanes, so the processor decided to replace it for aesthetic purposes.

In the end, the bacon processor realized savings in excess of $300,000. The cost reduction was not limited to tripling the life of the belt. Considerable savings were achieved because the maintenance crew was no longer called to the line three to four times per week to fix a belt that was coming apart. Production throughput significantly increased in areas that no longer experienced breakdowns, belt change outs and flame ups. The icing on the cake (or the bacon on the burger in this case) was the ability to capture more of the grease renderings during the cooking process. The bacon grease is sold as a byproduct, resulting in extra revenue added to the company’s bottom line.

Habasit proved to be the solution provider this company was looking for. Over the next three years, the bacon processor replaced all of its existing belts with Habasit belts, making them standard throughout the plant. 

Category	Savings
Belt Savings 3:1	$14,400
Product Loss Belt Replacement	$51,200
Product Loss Belt Breakdown	$220,800
Labor Cost Belt Replacement	$1,104
Labor Costs Belt Breakdown	$1,587
Production Labor For Replacement	$1,344
Production Labor For Breakdown	$11,592
Total Savings with M2586	$302,027

 

Habasit sees success with potato chip's

One of the world’s largest snack food manufacturers was having problems with an incline conveyor on their potato chip line. This conveyor took the chips from the scale up to the bagger machine to get them prepared for packaging. The competitor’s belt was breaking and they had to replace it every three months. Production was declining and cost increasing.

This snack food manufacturer contacted Habasit to help solve their problem. We recommended the KVP CC41 with 6” bucket flights and polyamide rods but stainless steel rods on the flighted rows. Our product provided a higher temperature, more abrasive resistant material as well as a closed hinge style belt. The benefit of the closed hinge is protection of the rods from the chips and therefore a longer lasting belt life.

With the competitor’s belt, this end user was spending approximately $20,000 on belt replacement cost every three months. With the Habasit belt, not only did they see double the life, but replacement costs were cut in half too. Over a year’s time Habasit saved this end user $66,000 in just belt replacement. Production increased and maintenance decreased as a benefit too. This chip maker was very happy with the solution Habasit provided and is looking for other opportunities were we can save them money.