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Sugar Valley
Increases Efficiency
By Lois Kerr
 Fairview’s
Sugar Valley Receiving Station installed two rebuilt Dakota pilers
this summer that increased the receiving efficiency of the pile
grounds during harvest. These two large Dakota pilers replace two
smaller pilers, which ag crews moved to the Sidney factory yard.
Although Sugar Valley has the same number of pilers as it did last
year, the two large Dakota pilers allow receiving crews to handle
large trucks more efficiently.
“Sugar Valley still has six pilers,”
explains agriculturist Ron Tharp. “We’ve now got three large
Dakota pilers, including the two we moved in here this summer, we
have two Ogden pilers which are large but not quite as large as
the Dakotas, and we have one Silver conversion piler that is small
but runs very well.”
He adds, “The two rebuilt Dakota pilers
have longer frames than the third Dakota, so it is easier to get
semis on and off these two pilers. We are always upgrading our
receiving equipment, and with the size of trucks the growers at
Sugar Valley use, these pilers allow us to receive a few more
beets with a little more efficiency. These pilers also do a better
job of cleaning the beets.”
The two rebuilt Dakota pilers came from two
factories that Holly Sugar closed the past year. “Holly Sugar
owned these pilers and had one of them at a plant in California
and the other one at a plant in Oregon,” Tharp remarks. “We
moved these pilers from the Woodlands and Tracey plants to the
receiving station here at Sugar Valley for use here.”
He adds, “The pilers will be repainted with the Holly Sugar
colors of green and yellow by next year. We didn’t have enough
time to paint them this year, but they’ll be painted in time for
the 2002 harvest.”
It didn’t take crews long to dismantle and
move the pilers from California and Oregon to the site in
Fairview, but reassembly of the equipment took some time. “We
dismantled both pilers and got one of them moved out here in a
little over a week,” Tharp comments. “We moved the second
piler out here later in the summer. With the weather and other
demands on our time, it took several months to reassemble the
equipment. We worked on the project off and on since the first of
June.”
Crews had both pilers up and running in time
for early harvest. “We wanted these pilers running for early
harvest so we could work out any bugs or make needed adjustments
and modifications before the start of full harvest,” Tharp says.
During peak harvest, Sugar Valley sees on
average 1,500 trucks per day. Sugar Valley runs two ten-hour
shifts, and early in the morning and late at night truck traffic
decreases. Crews therefore only operate two or three pilers during
these slack times. As truck numbers increase, crews open more
pilers. “We adjust piler operations according to how fast
growers send trucks,” Tharp observes. “We try to keep the
receiving operation running as smoothly as possible.”
The amount of time needed to unload a truck
varies, depending on the size of the truck and the particular
piler capability, but generally it takes an average of three
minutes to unload trucks, and up to four minutes when unloading
the largest trucks.
The crews at the Sugar Valley Receiving
Station also can take credit for the continued efficiency at the
site in receiving beets. “We have a full crew,” says Tharp.
“Half our crew have worked here in past years, and most of our
operators are back. It really helps to have experienced people
running the equipment.”
No matter how well crews and equipment work,
ultimately weather determines the speed and efficiency of
day-to-day activity. “Mother Nature has the biggest impact on
the daily operation,” Tharp notes. “If she’s kind, harvest
goes smoothly. If she’s not, and hands us wet or cold weather,
we make any changes necessary in our operation to facilitate
receiving the crop.” |