Corteva Agriscience > Case Studies > Export Wheat Terminal - GAVILON TAPS MONTANA’S RICHEST WHEAT-GROWING COUNTRY

Export Wheat Terminal - GAVILON TAPS MONTANA’S RICHEST WHEAT-GROWING COUNTRY

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Company Size
1,000+
Region
  • America
Country
  • United States
Product
  • oneWeigh technology
  • Intersystems drag conveyors
  • Schlagel programmable rotary distributor
  • Intersystems legs
  • Brock sweep augers
Tech Stack
  • oneWeigh control system
  • Cultura Technologies
  • NCH Controls
Implementation Scale
  • Enterprise-wide Deployment
Impact Metrics
  • Cost Savings
  • Productivity Improvements
Technology Category
  • Application Infrastructure & Middleware - Data Exchange & Integration
  • Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) - Cloud Computing
Applicable Industries
  • Agriculture
Applicable Functions
  • Logistics & Transportation
  • Warehouse & Inventory Management
Use Cases
  • Inventory Management
  • Supply Chain Visibility
Services
  • Software Design & Engineering Services
  • System Integration
About The Customer
Gavilon Grain, LLC is a company based in Omaha, NE. Founded in 2008, it has a storage capacity of 320 million bushels at 145 locations and employs around 2,000 people. The company handles a variety of crops including wheat, corn, soybeans, and specialty grains. Gavilon offers a range of services such as grain origination, storage and handling, transportation and logistics, merchandising and distribution, and risk management. The company's newest rail-loading terminal near Chester, MT features 1 million bushels of upright storage and 110-car shuttle train loading capability using oneWeigh technology.
The Challenge
The fertile plains in the north central part of Montana, just east of the Rockies and south of the Canadian border, is often called the Hi-Line. It refers to the main line of the Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNSF) railroad, originally the Great Northern Railway, the northernmost line of the 19th century transcontinental railroads. The Hi-Line’s major purpose was to carry wheat from Montana back east to the big flour mills around Minneapolis, MN or farther west for export from the Pacific Northwest. That is still its major purpose today and the main reason Gavilon Grain, LLC chose to build a brand new rail terminal elevator on a loop track at Chester, MT. This area of the Hi-Line doesn’t always get the most rainfall, so the yields aren’t always the best. But the quality of the wheat here is very good, and Gavilon wanted this type of grain for export at their joint venture terminal in Kalama, WA.
The Solution
To tap the potential of the Hi-Line, Gavilon built a new 1-million-bushel slipform concrete elevator outside Chester, with capacity for another 2.6 million bushels in an outdoor pile, and a 8,190-foot loop track siding off of the BNSF. The main concrete structure consists of six large tanks plus three interstices, one of which houses the bulk weigh loadout scale and protects it from the elements. The big tanks stand 48 feet in diameter and 120 feet tall holding 173,000 bushels each. They have flat concrete floors, 16-inch Brock sweep augers, and two 50-hp AIRLANCO centrifugal fans per tank generating an estimated 1/5 cfm per bushel of aeration. The two centermost tanks have sidedraw spouts. Incoming trucks carry grain to a 120- foot Fairbanks inbound scale and an Intersystems truck probe for sampling. Then, a oneWeigh scale automation system from Cultura Technologies directs the trucker to one of two mechanical receiving pits holding 400 and 850 bushels, respectively. After depositing grain, trucks proceed to an outbound Fairbanks scale and pick up their scale tickets from an outdoor printer.
Operational Impact
  • The pits feed a pair of 38,000-bph Intersystems legs outfitted with two rows of Maxi-Lift 20x8 Tiger-Tuff buckets mounted on a 43.5-inch Conti-Tech belt.
  • The legs deposit grain into a sixhole Schlagel rotary double distributor, which can send it out to the storage tanks via 38,000-bph Intersystems drag conveyors or direct to loadout.
  • The storage tanks empty onto a set of 38,000-bph Hi Roller enclosed belt conveyors in a below-ground tunnel. These belts return grain to the legs.
  • Rail loading is accomplished with a 90,000-bph bulk weigh loadout scale from C&A Scales, with a Cultura Technologies oneWeigh control system. Maier Sales & Engineering supplied all other components of the loadout system such as load cells and limit switches. The system includes railcar tag reading capability, which sends railcar capacity information into the control system.
Quantitative Benefit
  • Loaded 110-car trains in less than six hours
  • 1-million-bushel slipform concrete elevator built
  • Additional capacity for another 2.6 million bushels in an outdoor pile

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