Why does an elevator need a pit-stop?

Since 2007, the AgroCentre has been supplying the Russian agricultural market with after-harvesting equipment manufactured by the North American AG Growth Group of Companies . Sergey Lomantsov, head of the grain technologies division of the AgroCentre Company, introduced the participants to machines and equipment for each stage of grain storage; from receivers and transporters to actual elevators.

After that, AgroCentre managers attended an operating elevator of EkoNivaAgro with a storage capacity of 32,000 tonnes of grain. The participants viewed Twister grain storage silos, each with a capacity of 1,000 tonnes, already in operation, as well as those under construction. The chief advantage of the concept employed is the absence of an embedded foundation, thereby saving time and money. Two grain dryers also drew much attention. The first one, Delux, with an output of 7 to 127 tonnes per hour, is designed for processing “coarse” crops. The second, Grain Handler, processes seeds. The modular construction of Grain Handler allows adjustment of sections for increasing the output. For example, an eight section machine operates at a rate of 13 tonnes per hour, and a twenty-two section model, at 112 tonnes per hour. The managers of AgroCentre spent quite some time at the seed production plant studying the operation of automated lines of the new plant erected on the elevator premises. Here, at a rate of 12 tonnes per hours the seeds undergo all stages of processing and are packed into “big bags”. The equipment made by the Canadian LMC Company turns out high class products containing no crushed grain and foreign admixtures and fully complying with GOST Russian State Standards. “Today we have a unique opportunity to improve our skills by visiting work facilities, not by watching them in a classroom with the help of a projector,” says Andrey Kharin, sales manager of AgroCentreLiski Сompany. “The training was very informative. We saw in real life what we had known only theoretically. We were shown the capabilities of the equipment and the advantages it offers to our customers. We learned many more little, but important things. For example, how to sort out the materials at the seed plant, and how to bring grain into silos. Many of us have assured ourselves that pit-stops exist not only on racing thoroughfares. As it happens, a pit-stop is a grain receiving device.”