In Portuguese, there’s the saying “Mostrar com quantos paus se faz uma canoa” that literally translates to English as “Show someone how many sticks it takes to build a canoe.” It means that one should show someone how something is really done, like in a chain process.

Kids hear this from their parents and grandparents from when they’re really young in Brazil, but there is no simple answer to that. There are canoes made by Brazilian indians and 16th century European explorers (bandeirantes) made with just one big timber log that was carved and shaped until it became a canoe.

canoes

Then there are the ones made with several wooden boards over a structure or even the ones, like the eskimo canoes, made from whale bones covered with seal skin.

eskimo boat

This shows us that there isn’t just one answer to the initial question of how many sticks does it take to build a canoe. With that in mind, there isn’t just one option to move bulk solids around.

Mores, the difference between the canoe making processes circles back to the main point of this post – how to improve the efficiency of the supply chain process dealing with bulk transportation of bulk solids.

The Supply Chain

  1. What is a supply chain?

Two or more parties linked by a flow of resources – typically material, information, and money – that ultimately fulfill a customer request. The primary purpose of a supply chain is to satisfy customer needs to generate revenue from this action. (Source: EDX course “CTL.SC1x -Supply Chain & Logistics Fundamentals” by Dr. Chris Caplice – MIT)

supply chain and logistics

As in all exchange relationships, the supply chains tries to maximize the total value generated = [What customer pays] – [Total effort expended to fulfill]

  1. Define X’s logistics supply chain.

a) Logistics involves “managing the flow of items, information, cash and ideas through coordinated supply chain processes and through the strategic addition of place, period and pattern values.” (MIT Center for Transportation & Logistics)

b) The supply chain deals with materials management, information, and financial flows in a network consisting of suppliers, manufacturers, distributors, and customers. (Stanford Supply Chain Forum)

This proves that a supply chain is much greater than just logistics.

Therefore, to improve a supply chain’s efficiency, there’s a great number of unknowns to deal with. One way to start the enhancements is to reduce the number of steps in the entire supply chain process. There is an important line of thinking in supply chain management that says (with great wisdom, by the way) that the “Holy Grail for supply chain planning is to have accurate forecasts.” The less alternatives and unknowns included, the easier it’ll be to forecast.

How many steps are needed for a good bulk solids logistics chain process?

Efficient bulk handling is the key to success in carrying bulk solids.

Originally, for many years, before the bulk bags or the container liner bags, bulk solids’ transportation included these steps:

    1. From primary storage (silo, pile, etc.) to tank / dump truck or tank car,
    2. Transportation by truck or train to harbor storage facility,
    3. Unload and store to wait for vessel,
    4. Transfer to vessel,
    5. Transport by vessel to port of destination,
    6. Transfer to storage facility at port of destination,
    7. Transfer to tank / dump trucks,
    8. Transport by truck or train to end-user,
    9. Unload at end-user’s storage facility.

After the advent of the bulk or big bags, the steps changed to:

    1. From primary storage (silo, pile, etc.) to big bulk bags,
    2. Transfer bulk bags on a conveyor (belt, chain, etc.) or fork truck to the container loading site,
    3. Palletize bulk bags,
    4. Load big bags into maritime container,
    5. Transport the container to a harbor and transfer to vessel,
    6. Transport by vessel to the port of destination,
    7. Transfer container to trucks,
    8. Transport container to end-user,
    9. Unload or transfer big bags to an intermediary storage room,
    10. Move them on a belt/chain conveyor or fork truck at the unloading facility,
    11. Unload or transfer from big bags to end-user’s storage facility (silo, pile, etc.).

bulk bags process

Although the number of steps increased, the flexibility of the process increased, as well.
When the container liner bag started to be used to transport bulk solids, the transport process became a simpler and more concise process, as shown below:

    1. Load bulk solids directly from (silo, pile, etc.) into sea containers,
    2. Transport to the harbor and transfer the containers to vessel,
    3. Transport by vessel to the port of destination,
    4. Transfer the container to trucks,
    5. Transport to end-user,
    6. Unload or transfer to end-user’s storage facility.
    7. Containerized Bulk Solids and Especially Hard-to-Flow Solids is a huge Market

      It is key for shippers and logistics operators to understand the role of the different pieces of equipment involved in container liner loading, transport and unloading. Also, they need working knowledge on how to best apply this technology to save costs in packaging, handling and transport.

      Bulk-Flow is here to be your strategic partner!

      We have compiled this updated list for you all the components used to handle bulk solids with container liners

      1. Loading Equipment: Vertical and Horizontal.

      Vertical bulk solid loading is the simplest and quickest method to load container liners. Basically, the bulk solid is unloaded from a vertical silo into a specialized bulk unit.

      loading equipment

      Vertical loading directly from silos is a very quick way to load bulk solids but it drastically reduces the reach of the shipper and his competitiveness because it requires special bulk containers.

      30' intermodal

      Hence, these bulk containers are not always the most economical way to transport because the container must return (empty) to the origin to reload.

      Horizontal loading is usually conducted by connecting the vertical silo to a horizontal loading system.

      Screw Conveyor

      Horizontal loading is generally slower than vertical loading but has a very beneficial characteristic: any standard ISO container can be used; therefore, the export range of the shipper is worldwide and very cost efficient shipping containers can be used.

      2. Container Liners

      To the uneducated eye, a container liner is basically a big plastic bag that is introduced in a container to be able to load bulk solids.

      In reality, there are different types of liners depending on the materials used to make them, the container dimensions, the density of the bulk solid that is loaded or whether the product to be transported is for human consumption or not.

      Container liners can be:

        • Polyethylene liners – film extruded that is a barrier against all kinds of external agents, such as condensation. The film can be food grade and, therefore, adequate for loading food solids intended for human consumption.

      Bulkhead detail

        • Polypropylene liners or woven liners, as they are sometimes called, are basically made of various strands of polypropylene which are woven/knit together.

      single bar

      These liners have great mechanical resistance but, as they are woven from independent strands, they are not hermetic and not an ideal solution for food or hygroscopic bulk solids.

      Liners can also be categorized by the type of containers that they have been designed to fit. The cubic meter capacity of each container pertains to the density of the product to be loaded to optimize the payload.

      Liners can also be designed to transport bulk solids in tautliner trailers as a very flexible way to conduct road transport with bulk solids.

      3. Equipment Used to Unload Easy-Flowing Bulk Solids from the Container Liner into the Silo

      The process to unload bulk solids from the container liner to the silo or production line involves certain equipment that is standard in many factories.

      equipment involved

        • Blower or air compressor: depending on the distance between the container and the silo, and the capacity of the rotary valve, air pressure may vary.
        • Rotary valve is a device that is designed to discharge bulk solids such as powders, granules, and pellets from hoppers or directly from liner discharging sleeves.

      rotary valve

      • Tilting Equipment which applies gravity to easy flowing bulk solids, is sufficient to unload merchandise that is not cohesive in nature.

      There are basically two tilting solutions: Tilting Container Trucks and Stationary Tilting Platforms.

        • Tilting Container Trucks are common in ports and logistic hubs in Europe, basically for 20’ dv containers. Tilt container trucks for 30’, 40’ and 45’ containers are not easily available.

      Mobile-discharge-units

        • Stationary Tilting Systems are used in areas where tilting container trucks are not available.

      stationary tilting system

      • Stationary Tilting Systems make loading easier as the containers are transported to/from ports and logistics hubs by normal containers trucks.

      4. Equipment Used to Unload Hard-to-Flow Cohesive Bulk Solids such as Cement, Potash, Soda Ash, Iron Oxide, Aluminum Oxide

      These products will not flow by only applying gravity through tilting the container. It requires a combination: the fluidizing air liner system and vibration.

      Fluidizing Liner:

      fluidizing liner
      • Container liner with a built-in air pressure system.
      • The Fluidizing Liner by itself is enough to unload many cohesive solids.

      Extremely cohesive products that tend to rat hole and form bridges inside the container need vibration.

      vibration

      The vibration effect breaks down cohesive buildup for the fluidizing to occur and make the bulk solid flow to the unloading sleeve.

      Vibrators are fastened on the container to make the fluidizing more effective and help break up the bulk solid, to flow towards the unloading sleeve.

      This combination of fluidizing and vibration makes cost efficient transport in standard containers possible.

More than becoming simpler, the total operation time decreased dramatically from around 4 days to around load and unload with big bags to a maximum of about 2.5 hours with container liner bags.

The list of operations above could still be smaller with Tilt-Less container liner bags, which could also provide intermediary storage for field operations for cement, calcium carbonate, and other products that need to have end-user field storage. The products could be unloaded, as needed, during the usage process. The last transfer is eliminated and adds a lower storage cost for the customer.

Bulk bags need 5-process operation steps for the bulk load to make it to the vessel that will transport the merchandise to its destination. Meanwhile, any container liner bag only requires 3.

On the delivery side, the bulk bags require 5 operation steps compared to only 3 for regular container liner bags or just 2 for the Tilt-Less container liner bag.

Tilt-less Liner Bags:

LESS STEPS = MORE PREDICTABILITY = MORE ACCURACY = LOWER COSTS

With less steps and, consequently, more predictability that leads to more accuracy, which ends in a more efficient supply chain. There are costs reduction when there are less process steps and there’s more predictability. It leads to an efficient, lower-cost supply chain for bulk solids.
Regular standard container liner bagstube film liners, and Tilt-Less liners are a great solution to positively impact the cost-reduction in logistics for bulk solids. Tilt-Less liners are state-of-the-art container liner bags developed and are suitable for many different processes and situations.

(Español) Reducción de pasos en la gestión de la cadena de suministro: SCM

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