Candle Wax Conveyance

Antique Candle Co.® is a nationally recognized manufacturer of vintage inspired, artisan soy candles that are sold in 450 retail stores across the United States and Canada.

Challenge

Antique Candle Co. was using standard steel conveyors to transport wax flakes to large melting machines. The process took two production workers to manage.

Starting with a 50 lb. box of wax flakes on a table that was chest high, workers would scoop the flakes from the box into a company-built hopper. The height of the hopper and the manual task of adding the wax to the hopper made controlling the flow of product into the conveyor difficult, caused product loss and backups and was a physical strain for workers. The compression of the loose flakes created a buildup of wax on the conveyor system causing a variety of system issues including belt shifting, belt damage, stoppage and added product loss and waste.

Fixing these issues took up to 2 hours of a technician’s time, belt replacement costs were escalating, the production staff was frustrated, and the company was losing upwards of 10-25lbs of wax per day. The maintenance needs were eating away at budgets, production time, schedules, and morale. In addition, the steel conveyors were very heavy and hard for the production staff to move, adding to the maintenance requirements.