KWS Exceeds Expectations for Quality and Delivery at Owens Brockway

General Description

Owens Illinois has been making glass containers for more than 100 years. Glass containers are 100-percent recyclable and infinitely recyclable, and made from three natural ingredients, silica sand, soda ash and limestone. These natural ingredients are mixed with glass cullet. Glass cullet is waste glass recovered from recycling or reject glass from manufacturing. The process involves heating the mixture at very high temperatures to create molten glass. The molten glass is then formed into glass containers, cooled, annealed, and coated to produce a finished product.

The Owens Brockway plant in Tracy, CA provides glass containers for many industries including wine, and beverages. Glass cullet is received at the plant from truck and railcar and is conveyed by screw conveyors and bucket elevators into the glass making process. Due to the extreme nature of glass cullet, material handling equipment must be designed and constructed using abrasion resistant materials. Allied Welding Systems has been providing solutions to Owens Illinois for almost 40 years. Allied Welding 300XL chromium carbide overlay plate is used extensively by Owens Illinois in every plant in the US. 300XL plate typically outlasts AR400 plate by a factor of at least 10-to-1. KWS has been a partner with Allied Welding for over 30 years and together have provided many solutions to Owens Illinois.

Design Parameters

1. Product Type: Glass Cullet
2. Material Density: 95 Lbs. per Cubic Foot
3. Capacity: 100,000 Lbs. per Hour or Cubic Feet per Hour
4. Duty: 24 Hours per Day, 7 Days per Week

KWS Advantages

KWS has enormous engineering and manufacturing capabilities to meet any demand. Owens Illinois had originally placed an order for a bucket elevator with another manufacturer in May 2023 with a known shutdown and installation date in September 2023. After checking on progress with the other manufacturer in mid-August, it was determined that the bucket elevator would not be complete and ready for installation. Owens Illinois immediately cancelled the order with the other manufacturer and placed an order with KWS. KWS guaranteed delivery on site before the shutdown in September. KWS had less than 15 working days to engineer and manufacture the bucket elevator.

With 11 degreed Mechanical Engineers and the largest engineering group in the industry, KWS produced approval and detail drawings within 5 working days. Owens Illinois reviewed and approved the drawings in 1 day. Manufacturing began immediately and was completed in 9 working days, including 3 coats of special Sherwin Williams paint. The bucket elevator was delivered to the plant in Tracy, CA ahead of the shutdown date.

KWS Special Features

Allied Welding 300XL plate was used in high wear areas of the bucket elevator including the boot and head sections. 300XL plate has a weld-on chromium carbide overlay that is extremely abrasive resistant and the perfect solution for conveying glass cullet. The bucket elevator construction was reinforced with structural steel to increase overall life. KWS split gland seals keep the glass cullet contained in the elevator and outboard pillow block bearings are mounted away from the abrasive product to eliminate contamination.

Special cam-lock inspection doors were strategically located so internal components of the bucket elevator could be inspected and maintenance performed. All welding was performed by ASME certified welders providing the highest quality construction.