CASE STUDY – COURTESY OF BIOFUELS JOURNAL

Tracking Information

COMPUWEIGH HELPS HIGHWATER ETHANOL COMPLY WITH FSMA

When Highwater Ethanol, LLC’s CEO and General Manager Brian Kletscher went looking for a way to track information that will help the 59.5-million-gallon-a-year ethanol plant comply with the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA), he discovered that CompuWeigh’s SmartTruck system with a SmartTouch terminal was the way to go.

“Because of the FSMA, we knew we needed to find a way to track information that would help us with compliance and the CompuWeigh system helps us do that,” Kletscher told BioFuels Journal in a telephone interview.

Highwater Ethanol also produces dried distillers grains with solubles (DDGS), modified distillers grains (MDGs), and corn oil. The CompuWeigh system helps Highwater Ethanol track all of those commodities, which are subject to the rules and regulations of the FSMA.

In May, Highwater Ethanol, located in Lamberton, MN (www.highwaterethanol.com), finalized the purchase agreement with CompuWeigh Corp., Woodbury, CT (203-262-9400) and ordered the equipment for the installation.

“We handled the majority of the equipment installation,” Kletscher said.  CompuWeigh employees installed what Highwater couldn’t and verified that the system was working in one day.

“We wanted to get all of the equipment installed and working ahead of harvest and we accomplished that,”  Kletscher recalled. “We went live Aug. 7.”

Since the CompuWeigh system was installed and switched on, it has been performing very well, Kletscher said. “We had it tied into our grain accounting system, as well, and its really performing well. We have a more efficient traffic flow through the plant and the automated system is very efficient and with less errors.”

Of special mention, Kletscher said, is the CompuWeigh SmartTouch screen device that allows drivers to answer prior load declaration questions and enter load numbers.

Kletscher said the system has reduced errors on corn deliveries because the driver can confi rm the identity of the producer and any split relationships concerning the grain on the SmartView message boards.

On out-bound shipments of DDGS, MDGs, or corn oil, the scanner picks up the identity of drivers when they pull in and the identity is verified.

The driver then has to answer a series of questions about the condition of the truck and the other FSMA rules that govern the loading of DDGS, MDGs, and corn oil. The device also takes a picture of the truck so any shipments can be traced back to that truck.

SmartTalk Intercom
Kletscher said that the SmartTalk intercom system features noise cancellation to filter truck engine noise, which improves communication. “The CompuWeigh system allows us to get all the proper information we need for transactions,” Kletscher stated.

The system has the ability to allow co-product drivers to answer their prior load declaration statements from the cab of the truck rather than walking inside the building, which is a huge improvement for efficiency and for  saving time, Kletscher said. “When drivers are scaling out, it prints out the ticket within five or ten seconds and that saves time for the truck drivers and for our scale operators,” he stated. “Before, we had to do all of that by hand. The CompuWeigh system allows us to eliminate human error.”

Weighed Automatically
Both corn-receiving trucks and coproduct load out trucks are weighed automatically when they pass over the scales.

Drivers of outbound co-product loads can press the “Accept Weight” button if their load is found to be below weight restrictions. An ethanol plant also can set a “high limit” threshold which does not allow a truck to leave over the truck weight limit set by the State of Minnesota.

“If the truck exceeds the over-the-road weight limit, it won’t print out a scale ticket,” Kletscher stated.

Another added convenience that the CompuWeigh system provides is the ability for drivers to request additional scale tickets with the simple press of the “Remote Print” button on the OTP-4800 printer, Kletscher remarked.