WERMA signal lights flash as far away as Kenya
The Belgian company Meyland relies on clear and powerful products from WERMA.
Meyland sets things in motion
The motto of Meyland, a family business based in the Belgian village of Adegem, is 'make the goods move'. They specialize in high-quality installations to handle and transport piece and bulk goods in all sectors of the industry. Meyland designs, builds and maintains systems for the transport of individual goods and bulk items. In addition to conveyor belts, elevators, screw conveyors and chain conveyors, the product range also includes silos, bunkers, mobile scales and packaging and palletizing machines.
The internationally active company not only transports goods from A to B, but also offers practical solutions to optimize the entire production process, making it little by little more efficient and reliable. For several years now, Meyland has also been taking on turnkey projects. This not only concerns the delivery and installation of the means of transport themselves, but also the electrical control and all equipment surrounding the transport. In this way the company offers total solutions for all aspects of transport.
From point A to Abroad
In recent years, Meyland has specialized in machines and equipment for port facilities and is an important player, especially in the port of Antwerp. The Belgian company's products are also increasingly used in international ports around the world.
They do everything they can to meet high quality standards abroad and to guarantee the highest possible safety. All scales, weighing hoppers and other means of transport are first assembled in Belgium and thoroughly tested. If this test phase is successful, the products can be disassembled again and shipped to the correct destination country.
Mobile scales and weighing hoppers in particular are used worldwide. Using a crane or conveyor belt, products can be supplied via the weighing system and then shipped. The mobile scales continuously weigh the incoming goods, with a maximum throughput capacity of 2000 m³ per hour. After weighing, the products are transported by conveyor belts to the correct storage area.
Mobile weighing hoppers in Kenya
Meyland has built three mobile weighing hoppers for a customer in Kenya. This is the second time that the company is realizing a project for the African port. The huge weighing hoppers are used for the transshipment of cement and corn in the port of Mombasa. After all, this Kenyan port is one of the largest corn trading terminals in the world.
Michiel Dieleman, project leader at Meyland, explains: “We have built three mobile weighing hoppers for the port of Kenya. They are used for weighing bulk items. This way, when loading and unloading ships, you know exactly how many tons of raw materials are being moved.
The weighing hoppers and batch scales for this project were also initially designed and built entirely by Meyland employees in Belgium. After a thorough and extensive inspection, they were disassembled again and then shipped to their final destination in Kenya. After the weighing bunkers arrived safely at their destination, they were reassembled by local staff under the supervision of Meyland employees. Everyone involved was happy that the entire project went so smoothly and that the hoppers and scales were put into use in a very short time and successfully.
A huge size
The special thing about these weighing hoppers is their enormous size: they are each 13 meters high and weigh more than 90 tons. A total of 14 semi-trailers and 11 containers were needed for the transport. In addition, generators ensure that the weighing hoppers and batch scales can work completely autonomously. The calibrated weighing system can weigh up to 800 tons per hour, up to 20 tons per batch.
Michiel Dieleman says: “These machines are really huge! Given their colossal size, it was necessary to provide appropriate warning signals to all persons in the vicinity of these machines.”
Safety first – Safety for people in the immediate vicinity
For Meyland, the theme of 'safety' plays a major role. The company is convinced that many accidents – which cause injuries, physical damage, property damage and damage to the environment – can be prevented by taking appropriate preventive and protective measures.
That is why Meyland started looking for a suitable partner for the correct signaling of all mobile scales and weighing hoppers. WERMA turned out to be the perfect partner. Meyland quickly found what they were looking for in the extensive and versatile product range of the German signaling equipment manufacturer. They selected suitable signal lights and sirens to visually and acoustically warn all persons in the immediate vicinity of the machines of the impending danger.
Clear and powerful signaling
The chassis of the enormous funnels has wheels that can move in all directions. From the moment the unit starts to move, the orange WERMA flash lights come on and the powerful multi-tone siren goes off. This way, everyone can maintain the necessary safety distance as soon as this giant starts moving. Michiel Dieleman explains: “This is an extremely dangerous zone. No one is allowed near the funnel when it is moving. That is why we rely on the very striking signal lights and sirens from WERMA.”
In addition, signaling is also required for who is operating the machine. The crane operator needs to know when the hopper scale is ready to receive the next batch of raw materials. The LED EVS lamps from the 280 series from WERMA are used for this purpose. EVS stands for 'Enhanced Visibility System' or 'Electronic Improvement of Visibility'. With their irregular flashing light, these lamps guarantee optimal alertness. The random sequences of the light signals make the light appear very 'restless'. A permanently very high perception level is achieved, even when the light is only seen from the corner of the eye.
Michiel Dieleman says: “We opted for the large EVS lamps in red and green. When the green light comes on, the machine is ready for the next batch. On the other hand, if the red lamp is on, the weighing hopper is still processing the raw materials and the crane operator has to wait.”
The choice of the right signals
Niki Claeys helped with the selection of the suitable products. He is technical sales manager at the WERMA branch in Belgium. He made sure that extremely bright products were used: “The large LED signal lights are ideal for the Meyland projects. They can be clearly seen from a great distance and even clearly visible in the bright sunlight in Kenya.”
Niki Claeys continues: “For acoustic signaling, Meyland uses the multi-tone siren 144. Thanks to the powerful 114 decibels, it can be heard very well, even when the ambient noise in the port is very high.” The weighing hoppers, which were already built in Kenya in 2017, are also equipped with the WERMA signal lamps.
“Lamps from WERMA? Always with pleasure!”
A WERMA signal tower from the KombiSIGN 71 series is also installed on the control box of the drive section of the hopper scale. The green light indicates when the machine is ready for transport. The red light indicates when a parameter is incorrect and action is required.
The project in Kenya went smoothly and everyone involved was happy that the enormous weighing hoppers were put into use without any problems. Finally, Michiel Dieleman says: “We have a number of new projects in the pipeline for which we will certainly call on WERMA again. We have tried another type of signage before, but the best quality was always WERMA. They recently presented their new EvoSIGNAL LED lamps. The light intensity has been further improved compared to the older series. We will definitely work with it!”
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