200,000 tons of raw siliceous earth are extracted every year from the mines around Neuburg between Donauwörth and Ingolstadt and 55,000 tons of the fine, white powder are flushed out of it in a costly, purely physical process.
“Sillitin and Sillikolloid are the basis of our product line. They are extracted directly from the raw earth and are a clean, untreated product of nature,” explains Harald Zitzelsberger, shipping manager at Hoffmann Mineral. “We mainly package them in 25 kg paper, PE or EVA sacks. About 20 percent is shipped in Big Bags weighing up to 1,200 kg.”
Hoffmann Mineral’s internal logistics chain is fully automated from the pallet dispenser to the packaging machine to the roller tracks and chain drive of the conveying system all the way to the pallet shrinkage equipment. At the end is the automated high-rack storage with its rack feeder. Here wooden pallets, as well as plastic pallets loaded with up to 1,200 kg are stored until shipping. More than 200 tons of powdered or granulated products leave this facility daily. For this, production runs in three shifts, depending on the order, and with the requirement that customers be supplied within 24 hours. Packing that is safe to transport is an essential element in that process.
