Improvements to log-packing line mean that lessons can be applied to systems installed on other sites

As part of a learning process from two previous lines, PACE Mechanical Handling is installing a third automated line at horse bedding manufacturer Bedmax and will apply the lessons and improvements learnt to the existing installations. 

Bedmax horse bedding is produced from pine wood shavings, with its dust-free nature a key benefit for horse trainers and stables. But, in line with ‘zero waste’ philosophies, the dust extracted from the pine wood is not discarded. Instead, Bedmax forms it into Hotmax dust-wood logs, extruded under pressure and utilising the natural lignin as a binder. 

The PACE system is handling the end-of-line packing process for these logs at Bedmax’s Newark site. Similar lines had previously been installed at Bedmax in Northumberland and Andover. 

The Hotmax log brand uses three pack types: 10 and 20kg bales in weatherproof plastics and 10kg paper sacks. The new end-of-line operation, working with all three pack types, consists of an automatic sack presenter, complete bag control (CBC) and robotic stack-and-wrap. 

MD of PACE Mechanical Handling Nick Cesare believes the solution delivered to the Newark site is one of the company’s most sophisticated yet. “We have developed a new way of receiving the logs and have modified how the bag clamp works, so it can heat seal the plastic bags with their gusset-out style and stitch the paper sacks, which are gusset-in,” he explains. 

Before working with PACE, Bedmax relied on old and inefficient coal-packing machinery across all three of its sites. 

Taking this legacy system as his starting point, Bedmax founder and MD Tim Smalley says: “We are always trying to improve the worst part of our process, and at the moment at Newark, that is how we pack our products. It’s labour-intensive and difficult work.” The systems installed by PACE on the other two sites run 24/7, he adds, are reliable, accurate and easy to service and maintain. 

Each £150,000 end-of-line system is not only more efficient but boasts a smaller footprint than the coal-packing machines they replace. 

Bedmax began its bedding production in 2000 and added the Hotmax operation in 2008. The company ships its bedding to mainland Europe as well as the UK, and today has a turnover of £17m, employing 60 people across its three sites. 

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