A mAgAzine And ReFeRenCe TOOL FOR THe WeigHing indUSTRY ... · Scale/Printer Series includes...

A mAgAzine And ReFeRenCe TOOL FOR THe WeigHing indUSTRY / WinTeR 2010 • iSSUe 2 • vOL. 7

W H AT ' S n e WT H i S i S S U e

www.ricelake.com | RiCe LAKe mAgAzine 3 2 RiCe LAKe mAgAzine | www.ricelake.com

IshIda UnI-7 serIes

The Ishida Uni-7 Price-Computing Scale/Printer Series includes several models with unique features. Here are just a few.

The Uni-7 Hanging model is the only hanging scale with a color touch screen. Eye-level keypad and display are up and away from moisture.

The Uni-7 Elevated Keypad model offers additional ergonomic benefits to many types of work areas. Available with optional receipt printer and color customer display.

The Uni-7 Self-Serve model offers modular product billboards that can be arranged to suit self-serve needs. Large, easy-to-read displays are customer-friendly.

For more details go to www.ricelake.com/uni7

software for Cw-90 and Cw-90X

weIghVaUlt allows CW-90/90X users to add, edit, and access IDs over a network connection. WeighVault surpasses the CW-90/90X’s 50 ID limitation and eliminates front-panel entry of ID parameters. It also collects data as transactions occur and provides detailed transaction and productivity reports that can be exported to Excel, Word, or PDF. If an ID is entered in WeighVault, the CW-90/90X will load and begin using it when that ID number is selected from the front panel. www.ricelake.com/weighvault ▪

rICe lake’s Versa-portIon™ is compact and has a large platter that is perfect for kitchens, laboratories, and work stations. With a removable stainless steel cover and IP68 rating, inevitable spills are easy to clean. The bright LED display is visible in dim light, and the keypad’s four-button operation is simple to use. Toggle between ounces, pounds, and grams. Tare a product or container up to one-half of total scale capacity. By adding an optional battery, the Versa-portion provides up to 60 hours of continuous use. www.ricelake.com/versaportion ▪

rl9000twM-ht rated to 400⁰ F. Rice Lake now stocks high temperature versions of the RL9000TWM weigh module rated to 400⁰ F with 25 ft of Teflon® cable. All other specifications are identical to the standard RL9000TWM. The RL9000TWM-HT is now in stock and part numbered up to 50,000 lb capacity. Higher capacities available as special quote. www.ricelake.com/hightemp ▪

W H AT ’ S n e W

We LOOK FORWARd TO WeigHing in THe neW YeAR.

If the second decade of the 21st century is anything like the first, we will witness many changes in the weighing industry. As always, Rice Lake is poised to meet new challenges and to lead with new products and services.

We celebrate the holidays and see everything on our tables from turkey to cranberries, from wine to cheese, and from gelatin to jelly beans, and we’re grateful—especially when we think about how the entire feast is weighed or counted, measured and pro-cessed with Rice Lake equipment.

In this issue, we share a wide range of information. You’ll find the latest on Rice Lake equipment applications as far from Wisconsin as Brazil, along with stories that feature adhesives, coking coal, blue jeans, yachts, sea lions, and giraffes. We explore the mystery behind inexpensive load cells, and why and how to back up your data to help ensure that the new year for your business is a safe, happy, and prosperous one.

From all of us at Rice Lake Weighing Systems to all of you—may 2011 be your best by every measure.

RICE LAKE ONLINE MAGAZINEgoing green? Access the Rice Lake magazine online. You will enjoy the same great stories plus links to more information. Also, with electronic access, you can easily share articles with employees and customers.

To subscribe:go to www.ricelake.com/ricelakemagazine and complete the online form.

it’s that easy. if you have any questions, please email us at [email protected].

Find us on facebook: www.facebook.com/ricelakeweighingsystems

RICE LAKEmAgAzine

winter 2010 • issue 2 • Vol. 7

what’s new2

sticky situation H. B. Fuller has 90 days to be up-and-running

4animals say ahhhhhhhhhh

8read thIs

before you buy a cut-rate load cell

12It’s alive

How micro-Organisms Shape the Blue Jean industry

14wrapping up 2010

18CokIng Coal

24Bruce has a gift

26rice lake’s 2010 news Clips

surviving Ike 7

kanawha’s Big Iron 9anchors aweigh: rice lake

test weights tip the boat 11

reputation on the line 13one cause for delayed

luggage eliminated 17

sUrVIVor® goes on a ferry ride 23

editorial Staff:

Carol Ailes, Technical Writer

melanie Al Faraj, Technical Writer

Tamala Anderson, designer

Cheryl Aune, Literature manager

Bob Chatten, Translator

matt davis, marketing Specialist

Jessica de la Cruz, Writer

melissa Hjelle, marketing Specialist

Katy madden, Senior editor

Hannah martell, designer

Kelly musil, Catalog manager

Caleb Olson, Technical Writer, Reporter

Pat Ranfranz, marketing director

Adam Sharpe, Web master

Tina Slayton, marketing Specialist

Kevin Theese, marketing Support

Stacy White, marketing Specialist

Kristina zengaffinen, Senior designer

Rice Lake’s Baby new Year is being weighed on the Rice Lake digital Baby Scale (RL-dBS). The large LCd display and 44 lb capacity makes this scale perfect for infant weighing.


THe H.B. FULLeR COnSTRUCTiOn PROdUCTS diviSiOn, HeAdqUARTeRed in AURORA, iL, is at the forefront of construction products innovation. Here, a very lean crew formulates, mixes and packages a long list of mastics, coatings, sealants and adhesives used in commercial and residential construction.

They make ceramic tile installation products, flooring adhesives, surface preparation products, exterior insulation finish systems and epoxy flooring for commercial and professional contractor markets. They also batch pre-mixed grouts, mortars and other products targeted predominantly to the retail home improvement marketplace. Jim Holman, president of Fox Valley Scale, New Lenox, IL, puts it in a nutshell, “They make sticky stuff.” Fox Valley Scale was called to the H. B. Fuller Construction Products plant to come up with a solution for what could have been a sticky situation.

Geoffrey Russell, production manager, and Jim Sansone, maintenance manager, recall the day they were advised that a variety of new processing and packaging equipment was being moved to the Aurora facility. Jim remembers, “We had to figure out how we could combine that new production equipment with the existing manufacturing area and be up and running in ninety days.”

Jim Sansone, maintenance manager, reviewed current production methods of the used equipment transferring to the Aurora factory. He realized that much of the equipment and processes were well over 20 years old and needed an upgrade in technology. Manual raw material weighing systems needed to be automated. The company had limited knowledge in using load cells and wanted to minimize capital spent on the reloca-tion of the equipment. Jim notes, “We had to justify the money.”

Jim Holman did his research and Fox Valley Scale came back with this 920i® solution. Holman remembers the plan-ning meeting. “I came up to Rice Lake and had a breakfast meeting with Don Fiedler and Marvin Stodola [Rice Lake engineers] and Mike Ryan [Rice Lake Great Lakes regional director]. We liter-

ally figured it out in an hour on the back of a napkin at the restaurant. Kristi Gay [Rice Lake engineer] wrote the program and created the tables to recall formulas.”

The system includes eight 920i s with 24-channel I/O and Ethernet® outputs. Holman believes the solution is perfect. “All the 920i s are tied to one network printer. Supervisors are using Inter-change® to load formulas from the office

via the printer. One really neat aspect of the system is that any one of the 920i s can be used as a backup for any of the others. The I/O is redundant throughout the system. It can be changed simply wire for wire.”

Meanwhile, back at the plant in Aurora, Sansone and Russell were designing and building the steel mezzanine.

“We needed a controller that was simple and powerful. We made the choice and it paid off huge. We realized a return within four months. I don’t think we have ever had to scrap a batch. We run about 20,000 pounds of product a day though this area of our operation.

I’ve got a box here of data we collected to keep track of variances. But we don’t collect data anymore because there is so little variance. Saves some trees.”

geoffrey Russell, H.B. Fuller production manager

Left to right: geoffrey Russell, H.B. Fuller production manager, mike Ryan, Rice Lake great Lakes regional direc-tor, Jim Sansone, H.B. Fuller maintenance manager, Jim Holman, Fox valley Scale president, Travis TJ Oehmen, and Joel velazquez, Fox valley Scale service technicians

O n L O C AT i O nO n L O C AT i O n

Continued on page 6

6 RiCe LAKe mAgAzine | www.ricelake.com

Sansone recalls the Big Day. “The first time we fired it up, everything worked! I was pretty happy about that.”

Holman adds, “And it can be expanded. We can stick another twenty-four channel card in there. That’s the beauty of the 920i.”

The factory currently supports another control system that requires ongoing

vendor changes, which in turn requires ongoing expense. Sansone agrees, “That is what got us thinking about another way to automate this new system. The 920i system is so much easier from a programming perspective and for up-dating. There is a cost to changing raw materials and formulas with the older system. We do that a lot. The fact that we can do it in a text style is huge. With

“One really neat aspect of the system

is that any one of the 920i® s can

be used as a backup for any of the

others. The I/O is redundant

throughout the system. It can be changed simply wire for wire.”

Jim Holman, president, Fox valley Scale, new Lenox, iL

Surviving IkeOn September 9, 2008, as Hurricane Ike neared landfall near Galveston, Texas, it became the largest Atlantic tropical cyclone in recorded history, measuring 900 miles in diameter. The National Weather Service issued a strongly worded bulletin advising residents living in some parts of coastal Texas that they faced "certain death" if they did not heed orders to evacuate.

Ike’s 20-foot storm surge brought certain death to many truck scales in Texas—but not the SURVIVOR® OTR that Gary Becton, lead technician with Weighing Technologies, Seabrook, Texas, is still talking about to this day. “We had the service contract on this scale, and the owner asked us to come and take a look at it after the surge water went down. The scale had been under fifteen feet of saltwater for days. We opened up the summing box and there wasn’t a drop of water! I guess that’s why Rice Lake calls them “survivors.” We put in a new Rice Lake 420i indicator and printer and the scale worked perfectly!

“We had other customers in the Galveston area, and none of those truck scales survived Ike. The modules floated up and came apart. The Rice Lake scale didn’t float up at all. Probably because it’s heavier steel and the way the suspension system is designed—it doesn’t allow the scale to float off like all the others did.

“We’ve moved the scale to another location now. The new owner really likes the scale. He bought a Rice Lake floor scale later.” ▪

Sticky Situation continued from page 5

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the 920i, we can load the new formula and go live today. It’s very flexible. No controller is unique. They are complete-ly interchangeable, wire for wire. The programs are the same. We just load the batch routine.” ▪

H.B. Fuller Construction Products built a mezzanine to accommodate a variety of new processing and packaging equipment being moved from another facility. They were tasked to combine the new equipment into the existing manufacturing area and be up and running in 90 days.

The actuators open and close valves for the chemical ingredients in each formula. geoff says the 920i weighs the ingredients and sends a signal as the target approaches. it anticipates the dribble of each ingredient after closing and actually adapts and improves each time it formulates a recipe.


Kanawha’s Big IronKanawha Scales & Systems inc., Poca, Wv, was awarded a multimillion dollar contract for a fully automated iron ore batch weigh loading facility. The contract was awarded by vALe, located in the Amazon Jungle and in the town of Carajas, Para, Brazil. The 24,000 TPH facility will be loading rail wagons with iron ore that will be exported to China.

The system consists of four weigh bins, two surge bins, with a total height of 211 feet, using 2,165 tons of steel in the construction, four operator control chairs, a batch system, one train speed indication system, two in-motion rail scales, and a foreign body detection system for identification of any foreign objects in the wagons prior to loading.

One of the main control components of this complex system is the Rice Lake 920i® indicator and sixteen 125,000 lb double-ended shear load cells. each instrument is equipped with an ethernet®/iP card to communicate directly with the Allen Bradley ControlLogix PLC processor and Rockwell Automation’s Factory Talk view Se software for the Hmi displays. This allows all the scale information to be available to the PLC for exceptional control.

The Carajas mine is the world’s largest iron ore mine and has reserves of 1.5 billion tons of iron ore. Currently Brazil is the world’s largest exporter of iron ore with an annual production of over 200mT.

Over the years, Kanawha Scales & Systems inc. has steadily evolved from a weighing equipment service company into a fully integrated company, providing engineering solutions for plant floor automation, material handling, controls systems engineering, mechanical design, hydraulic design engineering, computer and PLC programming and database management systems. From its beginning, the company has grown to over 200 employees with branch offices and subsidiary companies in fourteen cities throughout the northeast and Central United States, as well as an office in Beijing, China, and Sao Paulo, Brazil, with successful installations in Canada, Colombia, Brazil, South Africa, india, Saudi Arabia, The People’s Republic of China, and Australia. ▪

zOO AnimAL HAndLeRS And veTeRinARiAnS CAnnOT PeeR dOWn A giRAFFe’S THROAT. Obtaining weight data and records on a routine basis with the least amount of stress to the animal is a science in itself. Gradual or sudden fluctuation in body weight in zoo and aquarium animals is an early quantifiable indication for closer examination and treatment or change in diet and exercise.

Rice Lake’s RoughDeck® is the scale distributors specify because they know it will stand up to animal use and perform dependably. ▪

Shedd Aquarium senior marine mammal trainer Kelly Schaaf works with Ty, a California sea lion, to “speak” and pause on a Rice Lake scale so April Keller can record his weight during a routine health exam. Marine mammal trainers at Shedd Aquarium use positive reinforcement to encourage sea lions and many other animals to participate in their own health care assessment. ▪

To access Our Day at the Zoo, go to http://www.ricelake.com/dayatzoo.

Mike Bennett, NuWeigh Scale, Davisburg, MI, sent us the picture he shot while installing a 5 ft x 7 ft RoughDeck QC to weigh giraffes at the Detroit Zoo. The scale deck was coated with Slipknot® for safer footing. The pit was dug in a long enclosed lane that the giraffes walk through. Patricia Mills Janeway, zoo communications director, tells us, “Chardo was most recently weighed on September 28; she tipped the scale at 1,549 pounds.

“She was born July 11, 1985. Chardo is listed as a reticulated giraffe, although the studbook keeper has told us that genetic testing of the U.S. captive population shows the reticulated and Rothschild’s subspecies to be all mixed up and not really distinguishable.” ▪

Ty, a California sea lion, is weighed on a Rice Lake Roughdeck® floor scale.

Rice Lake pit scale in the giraffe enclosure at detroit zoo. Chardo supervises.

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When is it too much of a good thing? Versa-portion keeps costs in line with every cake this bakery bakes. The large platter and compact size make it a perfect fit in commercial kitchens, laboratories, and work stations.

• IP68 rating• Removable stainless steel cover• Bright LED display • Four-button keypad • Toggle ounces/pounds/grams• Tare up to ½ total scale capacity • Optional 60-hour battery

For more information, go to www.ricelake.com/versatile.800-472-6703

www.ricelake.commobile: m.ricelake.com

“When measuring or applying ingredients,

Versa-portion is a dependable way to control your kitchen’s

cost of ingredients and product quality.”

Ann Crowley, Rice Lake product manager

White Chocolate Cream Cheese Icing layered with Cherry Pie Filling8 oz white chocolate 12 oz cream cheese, room temp 6 tbsp butter, room temp 1 ½ tsp pure vanilla extract 4 ½ c (22 oz) confectioner’s sugar

7 oz flaked coconut 2 cans cherry pie fillingDirections:1. Place white chocolate in glass bowl. Microwave on high 1 minute. Remove and stir until smooth.2. Place cream cheese and butter in bowl.

Beat until well combined. Add melted white chocolate, vanilla and 2½ cups of confectioner’s sugar. Blend on low speed until mixed. Add additional sugar until fluffy.3. Frost: Place one cake layer on a serving

platter and spread with ¼ frosting, top with ½ cherries (reserve ½ cup for top). Repeat second layer. Place the third cake layer on top and frost top and sides of cake. Sprinkle and gently press coconut over entire cake. Decorate top with reserved cherries.

Anchors Aweigh: Rice Lake test weights tip the boat“i have an odd question,” drew Hains, working for a naval architecture and marine engineering firm, began his email. “my firm does stability testing on boats and ships, and we have rented your 1000 lb niST Class F Cast iron Test weights. We are currently looking to do a similar test in the U.S. virgin islands and are having problems finding a local vendor for test weights… i realize this is an odd request and has little to do with you selling these products, but it is hard for us to locate local suppliers.”

Chris Olsen, inside sales manager, sent drew’s request to the Rice Lake international group that covers the Caribbean and Latin Americas. Chris sent drew a reply, “You will be provided with some dealers who potentially have some of our test weights in those markets. i am curious, what do you use them to test? normally they are put on a truck scale for a yearly calibration.”

drew explained, “To answer your question, we do stability testing on ships and other small craft such as yachts. With larger ships, large blocks of concrete (which are weighed before the test) are often used; however with smaller vessels where deck space is tight, your 500, 1000 and sometimes 2500 lb test weights are ideal and are easy to handle. They have the added benefit of being certified weights, thus there is little question about accuracy. On some smaller vessels we have used the 50 lb weights and moved the weights by hand during the test. Basically the test weights are placed on board and then moved transversely from side to side to apply a known moment as the heel angle is measured. Using the principles of naval architecture, the vertical center of gravity is then calculated. Thanks for the prompt response.”

drew B. Hains. Pe murray & Associates, L.L.C. Fort Lauderdale, FL

measuring the angle of inclination

Continued on page 23


Reputation on the lineWhen a customer calls Rice LakeA very good customer of ScaleTech Systems, Canada, is John Brooks, plant manager with F.W. Cobs Company, in Saint Albans Bay, vT. The F.W. Cobs Company serves the organic and conventional feed industries with top quality feed ingredients. They supply grains across north America by road or rail, with their fleet of jumbo hopper rail cars.

John came looking for Rice Lake. “i read about the 920i® capabilities, and they fit what i wanted to do. i went to the Rice Lake website and read some more and then i called Rice Lake for more information.”

“The 920i has tremendous capabilities. it is so good, it’s unbelievable. We have bins of different grains with different fall rates. Wheat, for instance, has a density of 60 lbs per bushel depending on the moisture content. Wheat middlings have a density of 17 lbs per bushel. The 920i can look at that and adjust the closing gate. i can hardly believe how it performs. All the varying densities are stored in the 920i. it can calculate density, moisture content, draft size and adjust how long the gate needs to be open, record the cart and bin number, and control mixing. it’s fun to watch!

“i had another application cleaning grains in cleaning machines. i needed to know the exact weight of grain before and after it was cleaned. i called two companies in Canada. neither one of the people i spoke to were able to give me any information about their products.

“You can’t put a price on the value of being able to speak to someone who is capable and very knowledgeable. every time i’ve called Rice Lake, some-one got back to me. don’t lose that! it’s a biggie!” ▪

Excerpted by Paul Menge, Rice Lake Weighing Systems load cell product manager, from an article in Weighing & Measurement magazine, April, 2010; The True Strength of Metal—Not All Cells Measure Up

in TOdAY’S WORLd OF eLeCTROniC SCALeS, the digital weigh indicator is the “brain” of the system, doing calcula-tions, conversions, telling a relay when to trip or a conveyor belt when to start or stop. It is logical then to think of the load cell as the “heart” of the system. I don’t know about everyone else, but if I were selling scales or an end user buy-ing a scale, I would want to make sure the heart of the system was strong and reliable, capable of working hard with-out failing for many, many years. As the saying goes “You get what you pay for” and this holds true with load cells and scales in general.

It is no secret that many manufacturers of load cells have moved most, if not all, the manufacturing of load cells that was formerly performed in the United States to facilities they have built in other parts of the world. This was primarily due to many new load cell companies offering

inexpensive load cells, necessitating the need to tap the relatively cheap labor supply offered by these countries. These companies needed to remain competitive. As major manufacturers responded to this challenge, the low cost load cell manufacturers felt they had to make a load cell even less expensive in order to grow their business. How do you do this when the playing field was pretty even? You make a cheaper load cell by using inferior steel, and this is becoming more common with the less reputable load cell manufacturers.

The major load cell manufacturers in the world still use the highest quality steel and aluminum to make their load cells. Even with their overseas factories, many will ship the necessary material from the United States if local mills cannot be found that provide a suitable grade of steel to make high quality load cells. The best alloy used for making

load cells is 4340. This is the highest quality alloy in terms of the proper hardening needed as well as providing the best performance for making a good load cell. The best stainless steel used is 17-4PH. This is a chromium-nickel grade of stainless that again can be properly hardened, providing the best performance for a stainless load cell. In regards to aluminum load cells, 2024T351 is the best grade to be used to manufacture them. All three of these materials are capable of the performance necessary to make OIML C3 or NTEP 1:5000/10:000 load cells.

Five metals are used overseas to make alloy load cells. Why five different grades? Simply put, cost. 40CrNiMoA is the most common material found abroad that is used in making alloy steel load cells that will provide OIML and NTEP performance characteristics and is the most expensive. Currently there is

only one mill in Asia capable of produc-ing this grade of steel and guaranteeing the purity and performance. 40CrNiMo is a different grade than the previously mentioned alloy, and you will notice there is no “A” at the end. It is less expensive. Without the A designation, this alloy is similar to a B or C grade, which is inferior and is a poor material to use in making a load cell. 40CrNi is still used by a few foreign manufacturers but is totally unsuited to make load cells. 40Cr is the most common material used by foreign manufacturers today because it is the cheapest but it is not capable of being heat treated properly and thus the performance will be very poor along with the possibility of premature failure.

T e C H TA L K


in 1955, THe WORLd OF BLUe JeAnS CHAnged FOReveR. When James Dean donned his iconic denim threads in Rebel without a Cause, pop culture instantly adopted the look. No longer were they referred to as “waist overalls” most commonly worn by painters, mechanics, and old cowboys. Blue jeans became cool, every teenager wanted a pair, and the demand hasn’t let up in the over half-century since. Today, the $700 billion global blue jeans market is so prevalent in America that 12 pairs are sold every second in the U.S., and the average American owns seven pairs. Few things are more identifiable with American culture as blue jeans.

The blue jean has greatly evolved since its popularity skyrocketed. A solid-blue straight-leg soon wasn’t stylish enough. Stone-washed, distressed, and every shade of blue now fill walls of clothing stores, but few know how these styles are achieved.

Initially, special pumice stones were used to customize jean appear-

ance; however, they had major drawbacks. Not only did

they weaken the jeans, they also produced in-consistent results and were environmentally unsafe. Special machines had to be used to wash the jeans with the stones. In the

late 1980s, the industry developed what is now

used today: tiny proteins known as enzymes to “bio-

stone” denim. These environ-mentally friendly chemicals are

naturally created by living organisms, which is more economical. They also produce repeatable results and maintain the jeans’ structural integ-rity. It’s as if James Dean combined forces with Albert Einstein for the benefit of fashion!

IOGEN Corporation is a leader in enzyme research and implementation. They manipulate micro-organisms to produce specific enzymes that facilitate production of a wide variety of products, including ethanol, papers and textiles, and, of course, blue jeans—so, if one drives to a clothing store using ethanol-enhanced gasoline and writes a check for blue jeans, IOGEN can be thanked for making the entire process possible.

But IOGEN’s laboratories in Ottawa, Canada, had a problem. Fiber-digesting enzymes floating around in fermentation chambers are difficult to measure. Quantities are important so enzyme levels can be monitored as they are researched. At first, they used a marker to label the chambers with lines indicating fluid levels, but more precise measurements were desper-ately needed.Continued on page 17

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How Micro-Organisms Shape the Blue Jean Industry

Bogie Ploch, fermentation supervisor at IOGEN, had an idea. His lab has walls full of fermentation chambers: small-scale testing vessels to research enzyme effectiveness. If the fermentation cham-bers could be effectively weighed, the monitoring process would be far more intuitive. Instead of exercising guesswork to estimate levels between lines, precise weight readings could be used; however, devising a system to work with existing equipment would not be easy—that’s where Rice Lake and GTR Scales came into play.

Jeff Wallace, owner of GTR Scales in Arnprior, west of Ottawa, thrives on custom applications. Not one to shy away from a challenge, he used Rice Lake load cells and instrumentation to customize the container and attach a load cell di-rectly to the vessel—an industry first. This allows data collection to be done quickly and accurately. “Since it’s a sealed unit, nothing could be inserted to measure the level,” Jeff explains. “So we modified the rig itself. We used IQ plus 355 indicators with analog output so it can report back to the PLC, and they have an automated system to collect data.”

IOGEN is very pleased with the custom setup. “Since the manufacturer of the vessels doesn’t provide an option with load cells built in,” Bogie proudly explains, “this unique system gives IOGEN an advantage over our competitors. The indicators are very nice, and GTR did an excellent job. We haven’t had any problems with the indicators or load cells. Monitoring enzyme levels is much more scientific now.”

Initially, only a handful of the over 20 fermentation chambers were custom-ized; however, those have been so successful that the remaining vessels will soon be fitted with load cells as well. Eventually, the entire lab will be accented by the comforting red glow of the IQ plus 355’s LED display: a perfect nightlight for the micro-organisms that make our jeans possible. ▪

800-472-6703www.ricelake.com

mobile: m.ricelake.com

Make sure your health scale is accurate. Our combination of advanced scale design and features with the added value of Rice Lake’s 60 years of weighing technology leadership makes the critical difference. The Rice Lake medical scale lineup includes standard mechanical and digital physician scales, wheelchair ramp scales, folding wheelchair scales, and pediatric and neonatal scales — all competitively priced.

Contact Rice Lake Weighing Systems at 800-472-6703 or visit www.ricelake.com/health.

It’s Alive continued from page 15

One cause for delayed luggage eliminatedJulia Buergi, Roughdeck® product manager, sounded excited. She emailed the magazine team: “One of the viP folks here (at the Rice Lake plant in Wisconsin) reminded me that they sold a large floor scale in Canada that is being used to weigh airline cargo. They are open to a story, so please speak with them while they are here if possible.”

We are always looking for a good story, and the way Ray gauvreau, sales representative with Superior Technologies, Weighing & Controls, inc., told it, we were on the edge of our chairs. “Our customer had a 10 x 10 ft floor scale, with ramps on all four sides, which trains of baggage carts would drive over so that each cart could be weighed then placed correctly in the plane’s baggage compartment to distribute the weight.

“With ramps on all sides, the baggage cart trains could cross the scale platform from any direction. That’s what caused the scale to break down. The operators would corner or side load and feet would break off, or a load cell would be damaged. We had a service contract with them, and we would race over there from forty miles away to get the scale back in operation while the plane sat on the tarmac. We went through that breakdown and repair mode for about four years, before permission trickled down that they could buy a new scale. now they have a 10 x 10 ft, 10,000 pound capacity Roughdeck—with just two ramps! They didn’t need those four ramps.”


Why back up?A backup system is like a fire extin-guisher or a spare tire; you don’t ever want to have to use it, but when you need it, it’s great to know that it is there. If you’ve wondered what to back up, how, how often, and where to store your backups, this article is for you.

Data lossThis sounds pretty obvious, but consider this: how bad would it be if you lost your entire system in some sort of disaster (fire, flood, lightning strike)? Even if the insurance company delivered all new equipment to your door the fol-lowing day, it wouldn’t help unless you had a backup of the programs and data on your computer.

Suddenly the value of the system is much more than the mere cost of the hardware. You may even find that the hardware without the data is almost useless in terms of getting (and keeping) your business up and running. The time to think about this and plan for it is now, when everything is running smoothly.

Data retentionDepending on the content of the data and its use, there may be additional legal reasons and/or requirements to maintain a historical record of various types of data and transactions. When in doubt, consult legal counsel before begin-ning to plan any system that will use or record personal, financial (like credit card numbers) or corporate data that might be called up in any legal proceedings.

Data review (history)In addition to the more obvious reasons, sometimes the value in historical data can be realized in “mining” the data, looking for patterns or knowledge that can be used to make future decisions concerning purchasing and business trends and predictions such as when certain products are most popular.

What to back upDataData is simply any piece of information. Some pieces of information are more important than others and all of it needs to be in context. When determining what to back up, simply look at anything that might even remotely be of value in a historical or restorative perspec-tive. When in doubt, back it up! Storage space today is relatively inexpensive, and information can always be erased or deleted later if and when the space is needed and the data is no longer relevant. There are a number of sources for determining what is needed and for how long, but consulting with legal counsel may also be a wise thing to do in many cases. What would you need to be able to continue to run your business without any lost revenue (billing), lost time (work in process), sales info (cus-tomer lists) and other things? The actual programs do not need to be backed up, just the data. You should make sure you have software installation discs or some form of the actual programs (MS Office®, AutoCAD®, Salesforce®) so you can restore these programs in case of hardware replacement.

Some examples include calibration certificates for scales, internal ISO

documentation, data retrieved from customers and accounting information.

VariablesIt is also important to back up data that changes. To determine what to back up, imagine the scenario of a disaster such as a fire. In other words, any data—such as inventory, costing, customer invoices and other things that are updated on a regular basis—should be backed up. This way, in the event of a failure, you can access the latest values for that data.

DatesSometimes the date and/or time of a transaction can be important. Be sure to examine and consider the content of your backup and whether the date that the change took place is important. If so, be sure the time and date informa-tion is included in what you back up.

Program settingsSome programs have certain settings that may change on a regular basis. Ex-amples of this include print formats, file locations, custom features and opera-

tions, and customer data and logos. This data should also be backed up at least once during each change, so the latest program settings are available.

Time-sensitive materialFinally, consider what data, if any, is time sensitive. An expiration date, a lot number, or any data that will become irrelevant after a certain time will fall into this category.

Continued on page 20

T e C H TA L KT e C H TA L K

Jim DaggonRice Lake senior engineer,emerging technologies

Wrapping Up 2010 continued from page 19

www.ricelake.com | RiCe LAKe mAgAzine 21

If you could reconstruct the last four days from papers and memory, then a weekly backup would probably work well. If there is a big increase in the data, then an interim backup might be needed.

How to back upScheduleTaking into account the data variance rates above, a scheduled automatic backup is usually better than “I’ll try to remember to do it this Friday.” Setting a schedule will assure that backups are done as often as necessary.

MediaDecide what type of media on which you are going to back up your data. Small amounts can be backed up to a USB Flash drive. These are relatively inexpensive and can be erased and rewritten, but they only handle about 16-32 GB of data.

What NOT to back upProgramsThere are two reasons not to back up programs, other than making an archival copy (just a copy of the disk or files that were initially received when the program was purchased).

Most programs today are installed on sys-tems using an installation program. These programs build files, modify other files and actually write certain variables to the program as the installation is taking place. Since these programs are not usually simply copied to a system, to restore them from a backup can be very difficult. Use the install program and the original program files, and then install any updates. The data can then be restored from the backup, and you should be fully operational.

Usually the program does not change, so making repeated backups of the same thing simply takes up space unnecessarily.

Old files: dynamic vs. staticOlder files that are no longer changing are usually best served by archiving them rather than backing them up on a regular basis. The difference between an archive and a backup is simply how many times it is done. An archive is usually backed up only once and then one or more copies are stored in a secure but possibly more remote location than the backup.

When to back upData variance ratesTo answer the question, “How often should I back up?” ask yourself, “How old can the data be after a failure?” In other words, if you were running a stock trad-ing exchange, you probably wouldn’t want to rely on data that is three months old. On the other hand, if you are balancing a checkbook, you probably do not need hourly backups. Consider the effort in-volved and how often your data changes.

If you need more than that, you might look at writable CDs, rewritable DVDs, or even external hard drives.

PersonnelDecide who is going to be responsible for doing the backup and verifying the data. The last thing you want to hear in the event of data loss is, “Well, I thought someone else was doing it!”

Reporting in place (including error reporting)If the backup program returns an er-ror, or something goes wrong with the backup, the time to deal with it is now, not after the data is lost. This falls under the category of “closing the barn door after the horses have gone.

Where to back upOnsite/OffsiteYou can simply make a backup on some appropriate media and keep copies in the company vault. (A fireproof box is a sim-ple and economic way to do this). A bet-ter way is to make the backups and store them offsite. That way even if a problem like a fire or flood affects the workplace, the backups will not be affected.

Remote backupToday, there are a number of web-based services that will allow you to back up to their servers over the Internet. Some examples are Iron Mountain™, Mozy™, and Carbonite™. Also many of the anti-virus companies are offering this service. The advantage is that the backup can be accessed anywhere at any

time. These backups are also protected by redundant systems and password protection.

One more thing—TEST!Cannot be stressed enough.The backup is only as good as the data on it. If, for any reason, the data is incomplete, corrupted, or missing, then it is useless. One great way to utilize an older computer is to clear all the data off it and install just the programs that you are backing up the data for. Then, take a copy of the backup and restore it to the computer. If there is a problem, you will know immediately. Since you are only using this to validate the backup, it is okay if the program runs slowly.

There is great value in maintaining a backup of your data and systems. A little planning now can save a lot of time, effort, stress, and money later. ▪

T e C H TA L KT e C H TA L K

That’s how long it takes for the TM-T88V Point-of-Purchase Printer to print a receipt. It prints up to 7.9 inches per second. The TM-T88V delivers the same high speed for text or graphics, including two color logos. Speedy features include drop-in paper loading, auto cutter and auto status back messages. The cover is designed to ward off spills. Optional power supply case is available.

Why wait for slow receipt printers when you can get fast so economically? See the TM-T88V in real time at www.ricelake.com/receiptplease.



We have, on our shelf, ready to send, the largest selection of load cells in the world. NTEP, washdown, corrosive resistant,

high temperature, high capacity. We stock over 50,000 load cells and can probably ship the one you need the same day

you order it. Service, selection, and speed; they all work here.

For more information go to www.ricelake.com/lcwm



Read this before you buy a cut-rate load cell continued from page 13

SURVIVOR® goes on a ferry rideRoy Hotchkiss, service manager at Badger Scale, inc., Fond du Lac, green Bay, madison, milwaukee and Wisconsin Rapids, Wi, sent us these pictures. A 40 ft x 10 ft SURvivOR truck scale is loaded on a ferry headed for madeline island, where it is being used for a project to lengthen the airport runway.

The last alloy I will talk about is 42CrMo. It is gaining popularity by some foreign manufacturers but is suit-able to make high quality load cells. It is used because it is cheap, and as the performance is slightly better than 40Cr, manufacturers can say they are not us-ing 40Cr.

Three types of stainless steel are used overseas to manufacture load cells. 17-4PH is the Mercedes of stainless alloys when it comes to load cell manufac-turing. 0Cr17N4Cu4Nb is the Asian equivalent to 17-4PH. At this time, there is only one mill in Asia that has the expertise to manufacture this stainless for load cell production. 2Cr13 is the designation of a type of alloy some-times referred to as “stainless iron” or “imitation stainless steel.” It has slightly better corrosion resistance than 40Cr, but it certainly cannot be compared to 17-4PH or 0Cr17N4Cu4Nb and is used because of cost.

There are currently two mills in Asia that extrude their aluminum close to a 2024 grade. Their designation code is Y12, and this is an acceptable product. There are a large number of manufacturers that use recycled aluminum and, although com-mendable from an environmental and economic standpoint, this makes a poor load cell because of the impurities inher-ent in recycled aluminum.

The metal used in manufacturing load cells is critical for a high quality load cell but the other processes and materials used are important as well and can also be “cheapened up” to make a load cell’s price almost irresistible. Proper heat treating, close tolerance machining and finishing, quality cable and strain gauges as well as a top notch quality control program and engineers with years of load cell design experience are all neces-sary in making a quality product. ▪


O n L O C AT i O nO n L O C AT i O n

gLOBAL STeeL PROdUCTiOn iS dePendenT On COAL. Steel is an alloy based pri-marily on iron. As iron occurs only as iron oxides in the earth’s crust, the ores must be converted, or reduced, using carbon. The primary source of this carbon is coking coal. Nearly all of the coke produced in the world is fed into blast furnaces to make steel. World crude steel production was 1.2 billion tons in 2009. Around 761 million tons of coking coal was used in its production.

Canada annually exports about 30 million tons of coking coal and uses an additional 6 million tons domestically. On behalf of Canadian coal, steel, and metal producers, CanmetENERGY conducts research and development on metallurgical coal and coke technologies including energy recovery from coke production, metallurgical coke, bio-coke, and research into Canadian coal. CanmetENERGY’s coal evaluation, prepara-tion and carbonization facilities are available to industry on a fee-for-service basis to assist with mine planning, marketing and economic investigations; to ensure low risk to expensive facilities during coking; and to evaluate the quality of coke, coal and other alternate fuels including biofuels for metallurgical purposes.

Kirby Wittich, CanmetENERGY research engineer, explains, “On every continent there is metallurgical coal, junk coal and excellent coal. It depends on the particular seam. We

are looking for very particular bituminous coals. A very quick bench-top test can be done. We grind the coal up and heat 1 gram of it to about 800⁰ C in a small crucible. After two minutes we take the lid off. If it is coking coal, we’ll see a little muffin. If it is not coking coal, it may look exactly as it did before—just powder.

“Some coal may coke at a certain temperature, and another at a different range. When we mix those together we have a mixture that cokes at a wider temperature range. The price difference between coking coal and coal that would be used in a combustion furnace can be five to ten times. If a mine shows that they have coking coal, then often a huge investment is made to mine that coal.”

There are two kinds of coke producers: integrated and merchant. Integrated coke producers are affiliated or owned by a steel manufacturer; merchant producers are those who produce coke to be sold on the open market.

Kirby tells us half of CanmetENERGY’s tests are done for steelmakers and half are for Canadian coal mines that sell coking coal to steelmakers. “We test the coal they send us in the proportions they sug-gest. But instead of a 4 or 6 meter high furnace, we test it in a furnace a little over 1 meter high by adjusting condi-tions. Among other things, we are testing to find the force of the wall pressure on the coke oven, because most of the coke ovens in the world are old. If there is too

Brilliant solution:Jeff Wallace of gTR Scales Ltd., in Arnprior, Ontario, supplied CanmeteneRgY with a 920i® inter- faced to a high resolution Sartorius base for their coke research lab in Ottawa. “They wanted to place a given amount of coke into a furnace and know when they had burnt off 200 grams. Our sister company, dCH, did it by manufacturing an equal arm bal-ance. One end has the sample of coke in the furnace and the other end rests on the Sartorius. As the coke reacts, the weight is transferred to the scale platform, thus showing us what is happening in the furnace.”

much pressure on the oven wall, it will crack and leak, and they take many mil-lions to fix.”

Possibly the single biggest concern for all coke producers is their ability to meet the requirements of the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990 (CAAA ’90). A cracked oven wall produces emissions, and emissions bring huge fines. Coke is produced in a coke battery that is com-posed of many coke ovens stacked in rows into which coal is loaded. The generally accepted guideline is that a battery of coke ovens has a 20- to 30-year life span. This premise does not hold up when the mer-chant coke producer segment is analyzed. The average age of U.S. merchant batteries is 40 years. The reason for this is partly the merchant mentality. An integrated producer views their coke plant as a dis-posable asset, producing raw material. In the end, for an integrated producer, coke is a “make-or-buy” decision.

The merchant producer knows that his battery is his livelihood and will take ex-traordinary steps to maintain his facility. For example, the oldest merchant battery

operating today was built in 1902 and still has a future due to continuing facility renovation and oven rebuilds. The CAAA ’90 has also resulted in the delaying of the deterioration cycle of coke ovens. The mechanisms that result in leakage are the same that cause failure of ovens, so when leakage is systematically eliminated, the result is longer battery life.

Coke producers convert metallurgical or coking coal to coke by driving off small

hydro-carbon molecular units to leave almost pure carbon. The physical proper-ties of coking coal cause the coal to soften, liquefy, then resolidify into hard porous lumps when heated in the absence of air. Coking coal must also have low sulphur and phosphorous contents.

The coking process takes place over long periods of time—between 12-36 hours in coke ovens. The heat is transferred from the heated brick walls into the coal charge. From about 375°C to 475°C, the coal decomposes to form plastic lay-ers near each wall. At about 475°C to 600°C, there is a marked evolution of tar and aromatic hydrocarbon compounds, followed by resolidification of the plastic mass into semi-coke. At 600°C to 1100°C, the coke stabilization phase be-gins. This is characterized by contraction of coke mass, structural development of coke, and final hydrogen evolution. During the plastic stage, the plastic layers move from each wall toward the center of the oven, trapping the liberated gas and creating gas pressure build-up, which is transferred to the heating wall. Once the plastic layers have met at the

center of the oven, the entire mass has been carbonized. The incandescent coke mass is pushed from the oven and is then quenched with water or nitrogen to cool it before storage, or it is transferred directly to the blast furnace for use in iron making.

Optimal operation of the blast furnace demands the highest quality of raw ma-terials. The carbon content of coke there-fore plays a crucial role in terms of its

effect in the furnace and on the hot metal quality. A blast furnace fed with high quality coke requires less coke input and results in higher quality hot metal and better productivity. Overall costs may be lower, as fewer impurities in the coke means smaller amounts of flux must be used. Coke producers use widely differ-ing coals and employ many procedures to enhance the quality of the coke and to enhance the coke oven productivity and battery life.

GTR Scales’ unique 920i® and Sartorius application for CanmetENERGY is helping create the cleanest, most efficient coke for the steel-making industry, en-suring blue skies in the future. ▪References:

dusel, martin, 4, march 2008, “The Coke Crisis.” www.accci.org/dusel.pdf

Ailor, david C, 8, Oct. 2003,”Principal environmental issues Facing the U.S. Coke industry” www.accci.org/Ailor.pdf

www.canmetenergy.gc.ca

www.worldcoal.org/coal/uses-of-coal/coal-steel

www1.eere.energy.gov/industry/steel/pdfs/ roadmap_chap2.pdf

“The greatest thing about dealing with Rice Lake is they really do customer service. Other scale manufacturers may

have a five-year warranty as well, but if someone other than their service rep touches it, the warranty is nullified—and they want a purchase

order number before they’ll show up!”Jeff Wallace, gTR Scales Ltd.


BRUCe JOHnSOn, CUSTOmeR SeRviCe mAnAgeR, is a perfect example of how Rice Lake has grown to become an international company—while still maintaining the personal customer service ethic Donald B. Johnson insisted on from the beginning.

Bruce has been with Rice Lake Weighing Systems 37 years and counting. “There were fifteen employees when I came here in October of 1973. I was interested in electronics. My hobby was collecting juke boxes from the ’50s. Electronic scales were in their infancy then, and we took on a line. We went to electronics school. Don signed us up for an apprenticeship program with the state. Since they didn’t have any idea of what training was needed for a scale techni-cian, he had to help set up the curriculum

“Back then everyone did a little of everything. I even worked on the first electronics catalog. It was

mimeographed. I called vendors, set up deliveries, checked orders, wrote specs, and took calls from customers. I developed an order pad with little boxes to check. They called it ‘Bruce’s Form.’

“Part of the benefit of working with Mark Sr. is that he imparted his customer service philosophy. You had that ex-perience back then. We had a little room where we would test products before they went out. We were so paranoid that something would go out and fail.

“I guess I built a reputation for working with customers. I take any calls where there is a question that can’t be resolved. I am here to get the ball back in play.” When someone has a problem, Bruce can usually help.

“I worked out our Customer Order Action Report (COAR). We came up with this because it was something we had to do. Now it is required by ISO, but we were already doing it. It’s another one of ‘Bruce’s Forms’. It has three parts. First, what did the customer say? Second, what did we do to get back on the road? And third, why did this happen and what can we do so it doesn’t happen again?

“We pick a project where errors occur and turn it around. Every once in a while you feel good because you find a gem. We might find we have two similar parts stored in bins next to each other. One of them has to move. In another case, we wanted to improve our order-taking, especially getting the correct shipping address. We had MIS change our software so that now we enter the zip code and the system brings up the city and state. Then we take the address. And we always read the contract back.”

Chris Olsen, inside sales manager, adds, “Bruce is the level head for the sales and service departments. No matter what the issue, or how emotional, he always seems to find a way to help the customer in a manner that is beneficial to all parties involved. The bottom line is he knows the customer is the priority and works toward the goal of satisfying them.

“Over the years Bruce has become the jack-of-all-trades with handling sales calls, online chats, warranty claims, the COAR process, and working on the root causes of our errors so we continually improve.” ▪

Bruce in the 1970’s answering customer questions.



Truckscaleskeep ontruckin’iQUBE2™ Diagnostic Junction Box monitors and emulates load cell performance and sends a diagnostic report to keep you ahead of any load cell issue that needs your attention. iQUBE2 tests for linearity, identifies noise, monitors for drift, and can even step in and emulate a cell to keep your truck scale truckin’.

If you’re in charge of a mission-critical multi-cell weighing operation, install iQUBE2 and breathe easier.

To learn more about the ultra-fast iQUBE² Digital Diagnostic Junction Box, visit www.ricelake.com/truckin or call 1-800-472-6703.

i n S i d e R LW S



Look around you. Scales are everywhere. Rice Lake Weighing Systems is too. Always

developing new ways to weigh it, label it, move it, and get it out your door, Rice Lake knows weighing, big,

small, and everything in-between. Off the shelf or custom made just for you, we respond and deliver—like no one else can.

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