A 15 metre surface mount Eurodeck weighbridge and Winweigh vehicle management system supplied by Weightron Bilanciai is playing a vital role for Environmental Expressions at their Grimsby recycling and waste minimisation plant.
Environmental Expressions provide a broad spectrum of comprehensive waste management services to sectors as diverse as the NHS, building & construction, food processing and local authorities. Typical recyclables include animal-by-products, food waste, metal wastes, medical waste, general waste, transit packaging waste, production waste, solid and liquid waste, gaseous waste, house hold waste and hazardous waste.
A key focus is on waste minimisation and the Grimsby plant offers a comprehensive sorting, and segregation service ensuring maximum recyclability with minimum waste being sent to landfill. In addition, the company provides an off-site assisted service to advise companies and authorities on how best to manage their waste in line with legislation and government initiatives.
The 50 tonne capacity weighbridge is pivotal to the operation, providing an essential critical control point for vehicles arriving and leaving site. Vehicles being weighed include those from Environmental Expressions' own fleet as well as those from external contractors and customers, ranging from skip lorries up to 44 tonne gross weight articulated vehicles.
Winweigh provides a powerful weighing and vehicle management system, linking directly to Environmental Expressions' Sage Line 50 system. To minimise delays, vehicles arriving on site are pre-booked using stored details pertaining to the vehicle, operator, driver and registration number. Vehicle updates and details of new vehicles can rapidly be entered into the system as required.
The robust design of the Eurodeck is ideal for such demanding working environments. The closely spaced structural beams, which support a 10 mm deck, run length ways, consistent with traffic flow and have sufficient depth so that they do not need stiffening plates. This close-coupled design prevents the traditional twisting that can occur in beams with competitive designs.
The Eurodeck weighbridge is fitted with Weightron Bilanciai's own manufacture fully weld-sealed stainless steel CPR rocker pin load cells, which provide excellent performance and reliability. The full glass-to-metal cable entry seal and stainless bellows ensure full sealing to IP68 and the rocker pin concept provides an effective energy restoring system. This ensures the weighbridge deck returns quickly to equilibrium after the vehicle has driven onto the weighbridge. This design together with the proprietary built-in end stops prevents potential damage caused by heavy vehicle braking.
For Environmental Expressions' own vehicles, weight data is also used in a different and rather unusual way to monitor overall driving performance. By comparing empty vehicle weights as they leave site with the returned empty weight, managers can gain an overall picture of the fuel consumption over particular rounds. In addition they can also relate this to annual vehicle maintenance costs in terms of wear and tear of drive train components such as brakes and clutches. However the company is keen to point out that this is not 'big brother' watching, moreover to make drivers aware that unnecessary braking and acceleration is to the detriment of the environment and company profitability.
Environmental Expressions' consultant Paul Gregory (HST Solutions Ltd) is pleased with the installation and as he concludes: "Accurate weighing is an essential part of our operation for both fiscal and legislative purposes. The ability to link directly with our own Sage management system provides versatile and seamless connectivity with fully open architecture."
Weightron Bilanciai Ltd
Tel: 01246 260062
Fax: 01246 260844
Web: www.weightron.com
Email: sales@weightroncb.co.uk