Times Advocate, 1994-7-20, Page 21FARM UPDATE.
Over 1,000
tour new
Hensall Co-op
bean plant
Jets of air blast off-
colour
ffcolour beans out of the
way faster than the
blink of an eye
HENSALL - "This plant will do
in eight• hours what the old one did
in 24," boasted Henry Van-
derBurgt, a director of the Hensall
Co -Op offering tours of the new $2
million bean processing plant.
In stark contrast to the bright and
clean new processing facility, the
old dark and dusty bean sorting
plant was also seen by most of the
1,000 plus people who arrived in
Hensall for the -guided tours. The
old plant, in a structure about 100
years old, will be dismantled and
some of its machinery used else-
where.
Glen Thiel, a past director of the
• Co -Op, said it was just 25 years
ago when the last top-notch equip-
ment was installed, and considered
then to be the last word in sorting
beans. Demands for better sorted,
clean, and pure white beans led the
board to upgrade to the new com-
puter -controlled system.
"You've got to put that stuff in,"
said Thiel. "People want the qual-
ity. If you don't do it, somebody
else will."
Visitors watched amazed as
white beans shot through an elec-
. tric eye sorter at machine gun
speed. An off-colour bean would
trigger a jet of air that would knock
it out of the stream, dumping it into
a bin to be sold to the pet food in-
dustry.
Split beans sorted out by the ma-
chines are mostly sold overseas, as
are most of the top -grade pure
white beans. Since Europe still
out -consumes the North American
market, that's where most locally -
grown white beans end up.
VanderBurgt said that with the
new plant capable of grading,
cleaning, sorting, and polishing up -
to 225 1001b bags of beans per
hour, the Co -Op can target its prod-
uct to specific markets. The most
fussy customers can specify colour
sorting through the electric eyes,
which can handle up to 170 bags
per hour.
"If it's specified that everything
has to go through [colour sorting]
then we can do that," said Van-
derBurgt.
Instead of running three shifts
around the clock to keep up with •
peak demand, the Co -Op c n now
fill all its present orders wiT may-
be only one or two shifts, he said.
41111 1110PITCH-IN
CANADA!
Times -Advocate, July 20, 1994
Page 21
The "Bean Highway",
(right and above) is a
maze of vibrating
conveyor belts
transports and sorts
white beans as they
make their way through
all the cleaners and
separators in the new
Hensall Co -Op bean
processing plant.
Co -Op director Henry
Vanderbuigt (right)
demonstrates how
electric eyes can spot an
off-colour bean in a
steady stream of beans,
and separat from the
rest in the blink of an
eye.
Why More Farmers are
Bringing Their Wheat
to S
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WE NEED AND APPRECIATE
YOUR BUSINESS
Committed to serving rural communities
■ Hensall Co-op the
fastest wheat and
barley receiving
elevator in the area
■ Locally owned by
farmers
• Friendly fast
efficient service
• Fair Grades
■ Honest weights
ALSO HANDLING
•
41,
Hensall Exeter Seaforth Londesboro lithffton
262-3002 • 235-1150 522-1000 523-4470 666-1300
1-800-265-5190
1