BASF Safely & Accurately Fills Road Tankers with METTLER TOLEDO Weighing Technology

Oct. 11, 2010 - PRLog -- Trucks entering the facility are registered at the gate and provided with information including the weight and volume of the product to be received. When a vehicle is ready to be filled, it proceeds to one of two METTLER TOLEDO scales which are connected to METTLER TOLEDO weighing terminals. At this stage, drivers exit the truck and an operator secures the filling apparatus and grounds the vehicle to prevent sparks generated by static electricity. Since the entire METTLER TOLEDO weighing system is designed for use in Zone 1/21 hazardous areas, it will not spark even under failure conditions like broken cables.

The Profibus DP accurately transmits the truck’s weight to a Siemens PLC in the control room. An operator simply presses a start button to initiate the filling process. The PLC tares the scale and fills to the predetermined weight.

To provide real-time information, the METTLER TOLEDO scale rapidly tracks the weight change during the filling process. Working in conjunction with the PLC, the scale terminal automatically stops the filling process when the truck reaches the exact target weight, minimizing product loss caused by overfilling and eliminating product giveaway. The vehicle is also checked to ensure it complies with over-the-road weight limits as defined by European and Spanish laws. Accurate measurement is assured with routine calibration and the scales will not deliver different results even with temperature or product variation.

After filling, the driver re-registers at the gate. The actual fill weight has already been transmitted and printed on the final documents that accompany the truck, helping prevent data loss due to manual transaction errors.

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METTLER TOLEDO specializes in the area of precision instruments for professional use. METTLER TOLEDO laboratory instruments are used in research, scientific, drug discovery, and quality control labs, amongst many others in the pharmaceutical, chemical, food and cosmetics industries. METTLER TOLEDO comprehensive industrial solutions cover the various steps in a host of manufacturing processes at many of the same customers that laboratory serves. Solutions range from receiving raw materials through various manufacturing processes, in-line process control and end-of-line packaging control, to logistics and shipping. Increasingly, these solutions are fully integrated into the customer's IT environment, helping automate their workflows. In food retail, our offering for fresh food management ranges from receiving and pre-packaging, to in-store solutions for self-service departments, deli counters, and checkout terminals.