Issue link: http://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/673312
Apffels Coffee Visit 10 Years Later Visit 10 Years Later Visit We paid a visit to Apffels Coffee 10 years after their initial installation of 6 con- veyor systems. We wanted to follow up on how they were working after operating 1 to 3 shifts daily since installation. We spoke to their Production & Opera- tions Manager, Guillermo Contreras, who was on-hand for the initial installation proj- ect. 2 new installations had occurred since my last visit. One, pictured above, allows for more de-gassing silos. The other, pictured below, adds a new packaging line. "Guillermo said "…(with bucket eleva- tors) there is a lot more maintenance... because you have multiple motors so in- stead of the one motor that's taking you from cleaning all the way to the silos, you need three. You'd have three motors because the conveyor that's pulling it from the bottom elevating it to the level that you're at. Your one motor turns into three different motors that you have to maintain.and that's just one of our systems. So you figure you're taking three motors out of one of our systems that takes it from green cleaning all the way to silos, eight systems that we have here, we're tracking a lot more motors." I asked Guillermo what are the 3 most important benefits Cablevey delivers and he replied: ...one is that it's gentle on the bean. I know everybody likes that. As close to perfect look as you can get. Low maintenance. It hasn't given us any issues. No major issues. 10 years we've had it. On a visit during the last couple of years we brought a potential new customer with us to Apffels. They asked how long the plant had been up and running specu- lating about a year – because the plant seems so clean, lacking the typical brown dust build-up in a coffee roasting facility. The same fellow looked around Apffels and asked "Where is everybody?" And Guillermo is sitting in the control room, and there's another guy doing some work in the back room – but no one else visible. Guillermo says "…they're not the first ones that have come. Some of our local customers, that we do some of our roast- ing for, comes in, and he just left shaking his head because he has a small opera- tion. Even though his small operation has more people than we do... We're helping them pack stuff that he's not capable of packing…he said you're doing a lot more than I am with less people." (641) 673-8451 www.cablevey.com " Apffels Coffee Visit We paid a visit to Apffels Coffee 10 years after their initial installation of 6 con- veyor systems. We wanted to follow up on how they were working after operating 1 to 3 shifts daily since installation. We spoke to their Production & Opera- tions Manager, Guillermo Contreras, who was on-hand for the initial installation proj- ect. 2 new installations had occurred since my last visit. One, pictured above, allows for more de-gassing silos. The other, pictured below, adds a new packaging line. "Guillermo said "…(with bucket eleva- tors) there is a lot more maintenance... because you have multiple motors so in- stead of the one motor that's taking you from cleaning all the way to the silos, you need three. You'd have three motors because the conveyor that's pulling it from the bottom elevating it to the level that you're at. Your one motor turns into three different motors that you have to maintain.and that's just one of our systems. So you figure you're taking three motors out of one of our systems that takes it from green cleaning all the way to silos, eight systems that we have here, we're tracking a lot more motors." I asked Guillermo what are the 3 most important benefits Cablevey delivers and he replied: ...one is that it's gentle on the bean. I know everybody likes that. As close to perfect look as you can get. Low maintenance. It hasn't given us any issues. No major issues. 10 years we've had it. On a visit during the last couple of years we brought a potential new customer with us to Apffels. They asked how long the plant had been up and running specu- lating about a year – because the plant seems so clean, lacking the typical brown dust build-up in a coffee roasting facility. The same fellow looked around Apffels and asked "Where is everybody?" And Guillermo is sitting in the control room, and there's another guy doing some work in the back room – but no one else visible. Guillermo says "…they're not the first ones that have come. Some of our local customers, that we do some of our roast- ing for, comes in, and he just left shaking his head because he has a small opera- tion. Even though his small operation has more people than we do... We're helping them pack stuff that he's not capable of packing…he said you're doing a lot more than I am with less people." (641) 673-8451 www.cablevey.com "