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Grain Journal - Novmber/December 2011
Featuring nine million bushels of storage capacity, Blanchard Valley Farmers Cooperative’s terminal elevator at Fostoria, Ohio, is one of the very largest grain facilities in the State of Ohio. And it’s getting bigger...and faster. Over a two-year period in 2010-11, the facility added two receiving pits, a 30,000-bph leg, enclosed belt conveyors, a 730,245-bushel steel tank, and a new scalehouse ... plus a few BinMaster level controls!

Grain Journal - November/December 2011
When Key Cooperative was formed in 2009, their goal was to boost service to an expanded membership. A 50-acre site on the outskirts of Newton, Iowa right next to a railyard became the site of a 590,000-bushel all-steel rail-loading terminal with 2,000 feet of track. Building the facility was Premier Millwright Inc.of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, who outfitted the impressive new facility with BinMaster level controls.

Grain Journal - November/December 2011
In 2011, TopFlight built a large steel rail loading annex in tiny Milmine, Illinois consisting of about 850,000 bushels of upright storage (equipped with BinMaster level controls), two receiving pits, four legs, a 40,000-bph bulk weigh loadout system, two gravity screeners, and a 5,000-bph grain dryer. The Milmine elevator is located along a main rail line, with enough space for extra siding track to handle trains up to 75 cars, for shipping grain to the big processors in Decatur or to the southeastern feed markets.

Grain Journal - November/December 2011
When Tubbs Rice and Grain of Mer Rouge, Louisiana replaced a 500,000-bushel tank (lost in a fire in 2009) with a 750,000-bushel steel tank and new pit and leg, that was just the start of the improvements at the rice dryer facility. Additional improvements in 2011 include the addition of 300,000 bushels worth of additional steel storage - outfitted with BinMaster level indicators, a second 10,000-bph dryer, a second receiving pit, four new legs with conveying equipment, and a new aspirator for rice cleaning.

Grain Journal - September/October 2011
Towering 144 feet over the flat Hancock County, Iowa prairie southeast of Corwith, this new feed mill serving the huge new Hawkeye Pride Egg Farms layer operation is easily the tallest manmade structure for miles around. The new feed mill, which has been in operation for about a year, is dedicated solely to supplying feed to approximately three million hens housed in five single-story poultry houses adjacent to the mill. Thanks for being a BinMaster customer!

Processing's Powder Handling Solutions - March 2011
It’s all about inventory and controlling its related costs. Your job is to figure out just how much material you have on hand and when you need more. Simple in theory, not quite so easy when you are running multiple production lines or asked for month-end inventory in about an hour. However, there are devices that can help make your inventory more accurate and your job easier. To select the device that is best for a particular tank, it is helpful to consider the material being measured, whether the material surface tends to be even or irregular; the regulatory environment; the size of the tank; and whether you need to know when inventory has reached a certain level in the tank, which calls for a point level device, or you need continuous level measurement.

BioMass Products & Technology Magazine - December 2010
Point level indicators detect when solid material reaches a certain “point” in the bin and send an alert via a light, horn or alarm panel. They notify personnel when a bin is full or empty, as a high or low level alert. With storage capacity at a premium in many plants, point level indicators help optimize storage capacity and improve inventory management. Point level indicators prevent overfilling or running out of material – which also prevents messy spills, material waste and costly downtime. They also positively
impact the staff at a facility – improving safety by eliminating the need to climb bins to check levels, and thereby also saving time. As point level indicators operate on simple principles, they are extremely reliable, long lasting and highly cost effective.

BioMass Products & Technology Magazine - October 2010
“We need better inventory accuracy.” If you work at an ethanol facility, chances are you have heard those words or said them yourself. Ethanol plants are challenged with large silos that are constantly emptying and filling. These active silos also are very
dusty, so taking measurements and continuously tracking inventory is a challenge. Having reliable, highly accurate inventory data is essential to help ethanol plants optimize operational efficiency, schedule deliveries and accurately report their inventory value.

Processing Magazine - August 2010
When you need better inventory accuracy in your bins, tanks and silos — more is better. That is, measuring more than one level point in the bin is better. Measuring multiple points in a bin and calculating inventory based upon a sampling of measurements versus a single measurement will provideimproved volume accuracy. Revolutionary advancements using acoustical-based technology features multiple-point measurement and employs 3-D mapping software that graphically depicts the topography of the bin to deliver volume accuracy that surpasses the performance of single-point measurement devices.

Grain Journal - July/August 2010
LeRoy Coop Association is celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2010 with upgrades at two of its three locations. One of those upgrades includes level indicators from BinMaster. At the cooperative’s headquarters elevator in LeRoy, Kansas, the coop added a 340,000-bushel jumpform concrete tank, bringing the total number of tanks in a concrete annex across State Highway 58 from the office to four.

Grain Journal - July/August 2010
DeBruce is putting the finishing touches on an extensive two-phase upgrade of a rail terminal in New Carlisle, Indiana, near South Bend. The upgrade included the installation of bin level indicators from BinMaster. The elevator is the company’s first rail terminal east of the Mississippi and its first venture into the Eastern Corn Belt. This project began late in 2008, after DeBruce Grain purchased the New Carlisle elevator from the local firm Lakes Farm Service.

Concrete Technology Today - June 2010
The SmartBob2 sensor is installed one-sixth in from the outer diameter of the silo, which is the best location for the highest accuracy of material. The weight (“Bob”) at the end of the cable suspends downward and penetrates the dust and measures the settled solid or powder material based upon how much cable is released at the precise time the weight (“Bob”) stops. The measurement, which can be displayed as height or product or distance to product (headroom), can be read from the eBob software installed on a PC, a SmartBob C-100 Console, or a Remote Start Unit (RSU).

Grain Journal - January/February 2010
McKune Farmers Union Elevator built two new jumpform concrete silos to replace two steel storage silos that were destroyed in a windstorm in May 2009. The new 187,000 bushel silos are outfitted with BinMaster level controls.

Grain Journal - November/December 2009
Ag Partners LLC in Alton, IA was faced with rebuilding their entire terminal after an explosion largely destroyed the elevator in July 2008. The explosion essentially wiped out the 1.1-million bushel elevator which is a joint venture between locally-owned Albert City Elevators/MFC, a 13-location cooperative, and Cargill Inc. BinMaster level controls help the newly rebuilt operation manage inventory and optimize storage capacity.

Grain Journal - September/October 2009
With 2009 predicted to be the biggest fall crop ever, Farmers Elevator Company of Platte, South Dakota faced adding storage and handling capacity to serve the needs of local farmers. The new "annex across the street" includes a new 315,000 bushel bin outfitted with BinMaster level controls.

Canadian Processing Equipment - August 2009
With just-in-time manufacturing and companies looking to minimize inventory levels, effectively managing material supplies is more important than ever before. Monitoring bin levels helps companies optimize material storage and save money. Furthermore, climbing to the top of bins presents a potential employee safety issue, to say nothing about the time and people it takes to scale a yard full of tall bins. Point level controls can provide simple alerts to prevent bin overfills. Continuous bin level management systems can help optimize inventory levels, virtually eliminate the need for employees to climb bins, and save valuable time by allowing bin measurements to be read from a personal computer or other centralized location.

BioMass Products & Technology - July 2009
Effectively managing and rotating inventories, ensuring employee safety and getting more work done with fewer people is the reality facing many biomass operations today. Continuous bin level management systems from BinMaster can help optimize inventory levels, virtually eliminate the need for employees to climb bins, and save valuable time by allowing bin measurements to be read from a personal computer or other centralized location. This article by BinMaster marketing director Jenny Christensen discusses the benefits of 3DLevelScanner and SmartBob inventory management technologies.

Grain Journal - May/June 2009
The Columbia Grain International Elevator in Carter, MT recently added a loop track and additional grain handling equipment to significantly increase capacity and allow the facility to load 110-car shuttle trains on the BNSF Railway. This article featured in Grain Journal provides an overview of the equipment added, includng BinMaster level control indicators..