In today’s fast paced business world, profits are hard to come by. It is therefore extremely important for businesses to constantly be looking for ways to automate and improve on their business processes.
In industries that utilize scales, there is little exception. Over the past few decades, there have been a number of technological enhancements that have made users much more productive, and companies much more efficient when it comes to using scales. Using automated systems allows companies to generate quicker, and more accurate readings, as well as allow personnel to focus on more complicated issues.
At Arlyn Scales, we’ve been a leader in the scale industry for more than 30 years. During this time, we’ve worked extremely hard to constantly tweak our scale designs to make them more user friendly for our clients. We never look at our scales as a finished product since we’re always confident that our designs can be improved, and work diligently to ensure that we never rest on our laurels when it comes to our high quality industrial scales.
Headquartered in Long Island, New York, Arlyn Scales offers a variety of advantages compared to some of our competitors. Because we’re able to design and manufacture all of our scales and subassemblies in our New York factory, we’re also able to constantly tweak our designs, and quickly introduce new features that would take our competitors significant lead-time.
By manufacturing in the U.S., we also offer factory-direct pricing to our customers, cutting out any distributors or middlemen that typically do little else aside from driving up the price of a scale. As you’ll see in this article, because of our unique business model, we’re able to produce high quality scales with a variety of automation features that make our customers’ daily lives much easier.
Using Our Setpoint Controller for Automation
Our setpoint controller is one of our most versatile features made to help our customers automate their business processes. This controller allows a user to program up to 8 weight values into the scale, which can then be used for automatic filling as well as basic programmable logic controller (PLC) functions.
For instance, let’s imagine that you were attempting to fill liquid from a drum into a container that was located on your 320M platform scale. If you programmed two different set points, you could set one value near the target weight and another for the actual target weight.
This would allow your setpoint controller to operate a pump at full speed until it reaches the first weight value. At this time, the controller can then run a second pump at a slower speed to reach the target weight. This allows you to completely automate your filling processes while making the most out of your liquid materials.
In addition, setpoint values can be used to mix a variety of materials such as chemical compounds or paint. This allows you to easily create accurate mixing formulations, without any human intervention.
Finally, you can use a setpoint controller to control the dispensing of materials as well. You could run a filling pump from a drum container that is used to fill containers not located on a scale. Once a smaller weight value has been reached, a signal can be sent to the filling pump to shut off.
As you can see, a setpoint controller can automate your company’s processes in a variety of different ways. By automating tasks around your facility, you’ll be able to free up your personnel to focus on more productive tasks that can translate into a more profitable workforce.
Automation Through Automatic Data Archiving and Record Keeping
You don’t have to go back very far in time to remember the days where weight readings were taken completely by hand. While this was the only option at the time, it introduced a high number of errors when weight values were read and transcribed.
Over time, this level of inaccuracy can really cut into a company’s profits. Thankfully, scale technology has improved significantly when it comes to data communications. Today, scales can be connected to computers through a variety of methods, making recording weight data automatic.
At Arlyn Scales, we offer a variety of connectivity methods that help our customers catalog and store large amounts of weight data:
- Ethernet / Wi-Fi – Ethernet networks have been used for quite some time to allow computers to communicate with each other from across the office, and even across the world. At Arlyn Scales, we’ve built upon that same principle by adding Ethernet and Wi-Fi support to our industrial scales. This allows our scales to be connected to a corporate network where you can control the scale and download weight data that can be analyzed in a variety of applications. Furthermore, if you have an active Internet connection, you can actually check in on your scale from anywhere in the world.
- USB – If you’ve looked on the back of any computer or laptop, you’ve likely seen a number of USB ports. These ports are used to interface with all different types of computer peripherals. Our scales offer full USB support. Simply connect a USB cable between our computer and your scale and you’ll be able to launch our USB Remote Software to store and analyze weight data.
- Datalogging – At Arlyn Scales, we’re aware that you may not always have access to a computer when using an industrial scale. That’s why we also offer our datalogging option that allows you to connect a USB drive directly to your scale to download weight data for later access.
Reach out to Arlyn Scales Today to Learn More
We hope that you’re as excited as we are about the automation potential of industrial scales within your facility. For more information on how to further automate your business processes, feel free to contact our team of knowledgeable representatives today by phone at 800-645-4301 or through our online contact form. We look forward to working with you soon.
