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.
Solution
After extensive online research, the Operations Team at Antique Candle Co.® discovered Dynamic Conveyor’s food conveyor line. Thinking that this might just be the unique solution they were looking for, they contacted Dynamic Conveyor. After consulting with a sales representative about the current issues and needs, it was decided that the DynaCon modular conveyor with a hopper was the solution.
The newly made hopper is waist high so that the staff can simply tip the box over and dump the wax into the hopper resulting in less product waste and less physical strain for production staff. The system is sturdy yet light enough that the production staff can move if needed. Additionally, the modularity of the system allows it to be reconfigured to scale with the company and accommodate for the operational changes to support the growth.
Results
Product waste was reduced by 98% from several quarts of product loss per 50lb box to just a dusting. It now takes one person to load the boxes of wax and they can load two times the number of boxes in an 8-minute period, increasing productivity by 50%. Maintenance costs were reduced by 95% due to decreased costs in belts, replacement parts, and maintenance labor. Morale on the production floor has increased – priceless!
“I appreciated the knowledge of the sales representative to guide us to the best solution for this unique challenge.” Mark Ramsey, Senior Operations Technician.