Powerful Truck Scales Defy Lightning

Oct. 29, 2012 - PRLog -- Michigan Sugar is the fourth largest sugar beet processor in the United States, producing more than one billion pounds of sugar each year. They rely on METTLER TOLEDO truck scales to keep their business moving during the busy processing season.

During the peak delivery months of harvest, the Michigan Sugar factory site in Bay City, Michigan will receive and weigh over 2,000 loads per day from the farm using two sets of scales. On October 23, 2008, the company received a record of 12,053 loads in a single day at their 17 different locations. Overall in 2008, Michigan Sugar Company received 4,113,737 tons of beets and reloaded or transferred just under 2,000,000 tons across the scales once again for factory delivery. A fully loaded truck of transferred beets weighs up to 180,000 pounds. The continuous flow of these very heavy trucks is extremely demanding for their truck scales.

Michigan Sugar recently replaced some of the old truck scales at their largest facility in Bay City with METTLER TOLEDO truck scales including advanced POWERCELL MTX load cells and versatile IND310 terminals. Paul Pfenninger, VP of Agriculture at Michigan Sugar, recognizes the benefits of the solutions provided by METTLER TOLEDO. "Over time we have been converting our old lever and analog load cell based scales to METTLER TOLEDO because of the excellent durability and lower cost of ownership. These scales cost a little more up front, but in the long run, they save us money."

Added Value
Over the years, Michigan Sugar has experienced first hand how lightning can disable their older analog truck scale systems. They have had scales shut down due to lightning strikes, costing them days of lost productivity in addition to the costs to replace the destroyed components and recertify of the scale. They find the lightning protection of POWERCELL MTX load cells to be unmatched in the industry. METTLER TOLEDO gives them the peace of mind that their systems will keep working through the worst storms.

Cech Scale, a certified METTLER TOLEDO distributor, has been providing Michigan Sugar with METTLER TOLEDO solutions and excellent service for more than 30 years. To keep the scales operating properly, Cech provides preventive maintenance and calibration services for the 35 vehicle scales across all of their locations. Michigan Sugar seeks bids for each new truck scale purchase, yet they keep coming back to METTLER TOLEDO and Cech Scale due to the superior product performance and reliability. Quality products from METTLER TOLEDO and excellent service from Cech Scale ensure that this sugar producer's operations will continue to run "sweetly."

For more information, please visit http://us.mt.com/us/en/home/supportive_content/news/VEH_M...

About Mettler Toledo:
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.