Cosmetic Powders

Potter Group Logistics is a UK firm providing high quality, freight, warehousing, distribution, and logistics services to clients in almost every type of business from five national distribution centres. Potter Group has a total of 1.6 million sq feet of warehousing and 250 acres of external bulk storage across its five distribution centres.

Customer: Potter Group
Industry: Logistics
Materials: Cosmetic Powders
Equipment: M-100 Powderflight Conveyor

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challenges

01 - challenges

Potter Group was asked by a client to move a fine sand-like material that was used in the pharmaceutical industry. During the conveying process, this product had to be transferred from bulk bags to tankers. Key requirements that Potter Group felt they had to achieve to successfully convey the product included the following:

Any equipment solution had to be low maintenance
The product had to be conveyed contamination free
Conveying had to be secure, with no loss of product
The conveying equipment had to be fast and easy to use
The conveying solution had to be cost effective

custom-
erization

02 - challenges

Potter Group contacted UniTrak to investigate if the M-100 Powderflight aeromechanical conveyor could be a potential solution for their conveying challenge.

In this case, UniTrak representatives made an initial visit to Potter Group’s Knowsley, UK facility, which offloads, handles, stores, and ships pharmaceuticals. The purpose of this visit was to assess the application and material, together with the operating environment and space in which any solution would be implemented.

During the application review, it was found that the product in question had a tendency to be easily blown about and to clog and stick to the workings of machinery. Due to this discovery, UniTrak decided to conduct a product test before recommending the M-100, or, indeed, any other equipment solutions.

solutions

03 - challenges

OUTCOME

The M-100 Powderflight machine, which works by propelling product through a conveying tube, met all of the Potter Group’s requirements:

It allows no separation of blended products.
It keeps attrition of fragile particles to a minimum.
Filters are not required on the receiving vessel.
Self-emptying allows for dedicated batches of product to be conveyed.
It provides dust-tight conveying, so there is no contamination or loss of product.
It operates at any angle, so, if the specifications of tankers were to change, the machinery could be adjusted easily.
It enables regulation of the feed of the product, which allows material to be moved from one-tonne bulk bags to a tanker in just four minutes.

“The team at UniTrak were professional and knowledgeable, and they really put their machines through their paces at the testing facility. We were so confident that their M-100 was the machine we needed, we didn’t hesitate in getting them to install it.”

– Bryan Mulvey, General Manager at Potter Group Logistics