The
Andersons, Inc. -- A Monolithic Customer
by Freda Parker
The Andersons, Inc., a diversified agribusiness with grain elevators in Ohio, Michigan, Indiana and Illinois, has been a Monolithic client for both domes and grain covers for more than a decade.
Operations Manager Bob Marlow, who has a 30-year employment history with The Andersons, oversees the company's facility in Delphi, Indiana. Built in 1975, Delphi ordered its first grain cover, a Monolithic product with a diameter of 320 feet, in 1993.
According to Marlow this grain pile was actually put in to handle overflow. "But over the years," he said, "it evolved, so today it's not used for overflow, but for what I consider our working space. We used to fill it when other areas were full. Now we do it as a matter of business. Part of that is because compared to a fixed storage, the cost of a grain pile is relatively cheap."
Marlow calls this type of grain pile "cover-on-first technology" since the grain cover is in place before grain is poured under it. Consequently, the grain is never exposed to the environment. He explained that Delphi's grain cover is a large diameter, round tarp with a lifting pipe at its center. Shelled corn, some 1.8 million bushels of it, flows through that pipe and forms a cone-shaped pile beneath the grain cover.
Delphi usually fills its grain pile in October and empties it in May. Marlow said, "Typically, from this facility, the corn goes to poultry feeders or corn processing plants where they produce corn syrup." While this hard kernel corn is not the kind that usually finds its way to our dinner tables, much of it is ground and made into corn chips.
Marlow said that during storage a system of 16 fans and aeration tubes serves two important purposes: maintaining the quality of the grain and keeping the tarp in place. "It's all downward drafts," he said, "so it pulls the tarp down over the corn."
Since its installation, sections of Delphi's grain cover have been replaced. "But we still use two of the original sections. The product has served us well." Marlow said.
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