A new weighbridge has been installed at Timberlink’s Tarpeena site improving safety for both drivers and dispatch workers while boosting efficiency and accuracy. Source: Timberbiz
Dispatch and Scheduling Co-ordinator at Timberlink Tarpeena Conway Johnson said, “the new weighbridge is bigger and more sophisticated which has already seen significant benefits for us operationally.”
The benefits include:
- Reduced gate to gate times, improving fatigue
- Management for drivers
- Easier, safer and more efficient traffic flow on site
- Live data from the weighbridge to the Despatch clerk
- Accurate weights measuring in 10kg increments
- The weighbridge is 38 metres in length (made to suit
- 5m trucks ), and can take up to 120 Tonnes.
The weighbridge is registered with National Weights and Measures, is dual laned and has a state-of-the-art licence plate recognition system (LPR) installed.
“The weighbridge has the ability to axle weigh, and this gives our trucking partners better clarity on what weights are spread over all axle groups to ensure they don’t exceed mass management laws and put undue pressure on each part of the vehicle,” Mr Conway said.
The weighbridge is just one component of the $90m investment at Timberlink’s Tarpeena mill. The project is one of the largest ever in softwood sawn timber processing in Australia and will turn the Tarpeena site into a world-class timber mill.
It will enable more efficient utilisation of the region’s plantation pine timber resource, while increasing the processing capacity of the mill. Over 200 jobs are created during the construction phase, and the more than 200 permanent full-time jobs will be secured at the mill for the long-term. The construction began last year and is scheduled to finish in 2021.
The weighbridge itself took about seven weeks to construct from the laying of foundations to being commissioned as fully operational.
And it has come at a great time, with the weighbridge attendants able to better control the driver stations to eliminate the touchpoints, so the drivers don’t have to get out of the truck. This is particularly important with the social distancing required for truck drivers from interstate. The new system allows for the data from the weighbridge to be linked into the system live so that the dispatch staff can process paperwork without the need for physical handling.
