New intelligent inventory tracking system

Auxiliary equipment supplier Conair Group has launched a new TrueRate intelligent inventory tracking system, which automatically tracks changes in the inventories of up to 500 different user-specified resins or flowable powders in a processing plant.

Developed as an alternative to the use of single-component batch blenders for resin inventory measurement, the new TrueRate system utilizes highly accurate gravimetric measurement.

The TrueRate system is available in two sizes, consisting of an 8-inch weighing ring equipped with two load cells, or a 12-inch ring equipped with three.

Both configurations connect to a separate electrical control panel containing a PLC. The weighing ring is mounted below a material loader or receiver but above a container or bin, where it uses resin information provided by the user to precisely calculate the change in weight of the loader/receiver before it discharges the material through the ring and into the container.

“TrueRate is a new and elegant way to track and regulate the receipt, flow, and usage of valuable resins and flowable powders throughout a plastics processing facility,” said Alan Landers, Conair’s product manager for blending. “In totalizer mode, the system can, for example, accurately measure and validate the quantity of resin conveyed from a process bin that was loaded from a silo. Or, it can track the dispensing of that resin to the plant, leaving the processor with an accurate, running inventory.”