Solar Petroleum moves to safer, faster filling

Widnes, UK - Solar Petroleum Ltd has reduced manual handling requirements, improved productivity and reduced cost by installing a new system for filling 25-litre containers, 205-litre drums and 1,000-litre IBCs at its 10-million litre/year lubricants blending facility in Widnes.  The company previously filled containers individually using a semi-automatic system whereby a 25-litre container was filled to a pre-set weight, moved by an operator to a pallet, and the procedure repeated until a full pallet of 40 containers was made up. 

With the new equipment - a StrongArm system, designed and installed by Filling Solutions of Nottingham, UK - an operator positions 20 empty containers onto a pallet, and these are filled in one operation to an accurate fill weight, explains said Andy Holland, works manager of Solar Petroleum. A second layer of 20 containers is then placed on top of the filled containers and the process is repeated, he said.

“We have totally eliminated the lifting of full containers, and we’ve increased filling speeds from 60 to 100 containers per hour," continued Holland. "What’s more, we have been very impressed with the service we have received from Filling Solutions who delivered the equipment on time and were on-hand to quickly iron out the usual minor issues associated with commissioning.”

According to Filling Solutions, its design can accurately fill a whole spectrum of container sizes from 100 ml right up to 1500 litres, while the equipment can be configured to accommodate bottom-fill to overcome foaming problems, top-fill high speed filling and above-lid fill for open pale containers. The filling arm, it adds, operates through a full 360 degrees working radius allowing multiple pallets to be filled for optimum productivity.