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INDUSTRIAL A N D ENGINEERING CHEMISTRY
Vol. 16, No. 1
Performance Standards for Beet Sugar Factories' By H. W. Dahlbergz GREATWESTERN SUGAR Co.,DENVER, COLO.
F
OR many years the operations carried on in beet sugar capacity attained by the factory in question or by sister factories. factories have been fairly well standardized, and have been If any station is strengthened, or a t a later date any improveconducted under a more or less strict chemical control. ment affecting capacity is made, the slicing standard is raised The known losses of sugar in pulp, pulp water, lime cake, and accordingly. It has also happened that, even with the best molasses have been accurately determined and the unaccountable judgment of a large group of men, too much consideration has loss has been determined by difference, the amount of sugar intro- been given to past performance, and as soon as this is discovered duced in beets sliced and the quantity of granulated sugar pro- the standard is brought up to correspond with the actudl instalduced being known. Most factories, both here and abroad, have lation a t the factory in question. endeavored to reduce the losses to a minimum consistent with It would, of course, have been unwise to institute a contest good work and extract the maximum quantity of sugar. or race between the sixteen factories as to capacity alone, without As early as 1907 the company with which the author is con- any limitations on sugar losses and extraction. Every factory nected instituted a very.strict chemical control in all its factories, is consequently required to attain exactly the same standard of this control being independent of the factory superintendent. extraction for beets of a certain sugar content and purity. Given I n other words, the chemists a t the various factories are under the the sugar content and purity of the beet, tables showing the numdirection of one general chemist and, while they cooperate to ber of pounds of sugar which must be extracted to reach a standthe fullest extent with the factory superintendent and his organ- ard performance have been made. These calculations are ization, they are not subject to his authority. This plan has based on securing a total loss of 0.60 per cent on beets, exclusive worked very well indeed and neither the chemical department of molasses, an elimination of 40 per cent of the nonsugars intronor the operating department would ever wish to revert to the duced and a final apparent molasses purity of 57. The tables system which is common abroad and which often leads to some show the number of pounds of granulated sugar which should be dishonesty in the calculation of losses and extraction. obtained from a certain beet, and the same credit is given for Until very recent years sufficient importance has not been securing this extraction regardless of whether it was obtained by attached to slicing capacity. The matter of losses in storage of a lower loss than 0.60 per cent with a higher molasses purity than the beets between the field and factory has not been given suffi- 57, or vice versa. cient attention, and the economies which can be made in sugar With this rather high standard of extraction, it was decided that extracted and in operating costs by the attainment of maximum in order to be eligible in the race for a pennant awarded to the capacities have not been fully realized. factory which does the best all-round work, i t must attain 95 per Under normal storage conditions a ton of beets loses on the cent of this standard extraction-that is, a performance factor average one pound of sugar per day when stored in piles during the of 95. I n other words, if a factory reached an extremely high months of October, November, and December, in territories slicing figure, but did not attain a performance factor of 95, it having particularly favorable climatic conditions during the stor- would have no standing in the pennant race. age period, with very little precipitation and relatively cool The pennant standing is determined in this way. Let us asweather. In other sections of the United States the sugar losses sume that a factory has a slicing standard of 1000 tons per day, on stored beets will run considerably higher, particularly in Cali- from which a 95 performance factor it is required to produce fornia, where the beets deteriorate very rapidly even if stored 2483 bags per day with the particular beets sliced. If it produces for a very short time. exactly this number of bags daily as a campaign average and A number oE years ago an exhaustive study of this matter of slices 1000 tons per day, it will have a pennant standing of 100. sugar losses was made, together with a comparison of the perform- If, however, i t produces 5 per cent more sugar daily by a better ance of the factories over a long period of years. The conclusion extraction on the same tonnage of beets, i t will have a pennant was reached that, while very good progress had been made in the standing of 105. If it slices 1100 tons per day, its pennant standway of increasing slicing capacity from year to year, there was ing is obtained by dividing the actual bag production by the restill room for improvement on this point, without sacrificing quired bag production for 1100 tons, and multiplying this by 100. anything in the way of extraction. This study included a comUnder this plan there is an incentive to get both the maximum parison of the operating costs per bag of sugar for all plants, extraction and the maximum slicing capacity, the resultant being which showed unmistakably that after equalizing differences in the production of the maximum number of bags of sugar per day. beets, equipment, and unit prices of operating materials, the With sixteen factories all competing on the same basis, the rivalry really big factor in the operating cost per bag Was the daily bag for first place is extremely keen. The effect of this plan in deproduction. In other words, with two factories of the same equip- veloping team work in factory crews made up to a large extent ment and handling beets of the same quality, the one which of temporary men has greatly surpassed our expectations. The produced the most bags per day would beat the other one on race is often very close. At times the figures for the five leading operating cost per bag every time. factories have been within fractional per cents of each other, and The next step was to give each factory a standard rating as to three or four different factories have stood in first place at various slicing capacity. I n setting this slicing standard the following periods of the campaign. The standings as determined a t frepoints are taken into consideration: (1) the actual capacity of quent intervals are posted on the bulletin boards at all factories, the limiting stations, (2) the capacity reached by other factories and all employees are informed of the standing of their particular of the same equipment, and (3) the highest weekly average factory and what can be done to improve it. 1 Presented before the Division of Sugar Chemistry a t the 66th Meeting What have been the tangible results of this plan and what of the American Chemical Society, Milwaukee, Wis., September 1 0 to 14, standards of performance have been set? One of the most im1923. portant results has been the absolute proof that in a beet sugar 2 Research Manager.
January, 1924
I N D U S T R I A L A N D ENGINEERING CHEMISTRY
factory high capacity and high extraction go together, and that high capacity does not mean a sacrifice in permitting sugar losses to go up. The plan has now been in effect for four years, and in every case the factory which won the pennant has had a very high performance, combined with a high daily slicing. The pennant has never been won by a performance factor of less than 98 per cent, even though 95 per cent makes the factory eligible. This is important, because when the plan was first promulgated many of the operating men thought that maximum capacities could be attained only by a sacrifice in extraction, and this opinion is still held by many in the sugar industry. Another very important result of the plan has been the constant search for the weak and limiting stations in each factory and the steps taken to strengthen them. The improvements made have been relatively small as far as expenditures go, the average annual expenditure for this purpose for the four years having been less than normal, but the increase in capacity has been noteworthy. Other measures, such as the adoption of the eight-hour shift and a campaign of education in sugar technology of all permanent men, have also had their influence on the results, but the realization of the value of maximum production has probably been the largest factor. When the pennant plan was inaugurated for the 1919-20 campaign, the slicing standards then set called for a daily slicing of 23,035 tons for the sixteen plants. The standards set for this next campaign for the same factories will call for 28,700 tons.
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While the actual difference in slicing for the two campaigns in question will probably not be quite so great as the difference in standards set, the figures give some idea of what has actually been accomplished. One would naturally expect that this increased production would be reflected in the number of man-hours of labor, or minutes required to produce a bag of sugar. In the earlier history of the company it often required the labor of one man for one hour for the factory operation of producing one bag of sugar, and individual factories had figures as high as one and one-half hours per bag. The majority of European factories today are said to require from one to two man-hours per bag of sugar. During the last two campaigns all the factories have averaged the time of 36 minutes for one man to produce one bag and the factories with the best records have done this in 29 minutes. As far as is known, this figure of 29 minutes of operating labor per bag of sugar has not been surpassed by any beet sugar factory anywhere. However, the greatest gain to the beet sugar industry by emphasis on production does not lie alone in these results, but in the reduction of the loss in sugar which now takes place between the harvesting of the beets and the slicing of them. This problem can only be solved by the complete cooperation of grower and factory, the grower delivering the beets with the minimum of‘ storage and the factory slicing them at maximum speed. When this is worked out to the fullest extent, a large economic loss will be eliminated and all factors in the industry will benefit.
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AMERICAN CONTEMPORARIES William P. Mason
While interested in the material that has flowed from his pen from time to time, the writer, on searching the older files STRANGER in Troy, N. Y . , inquiring for the loca- of the Journal of the American Chemical Society, found several interesting things. In September, 1878, Dr. tion of the chemical laboratory of the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, is told “Just Mason became a member of the SOCIETY, up the hill.” He takes a deep breath, tightens and for several years after his election, little his belt, and takes a long climb up, step after was heard of his scientific achievements; then step. On his arrival near the top, almost there began to appear notes, articles, and breathltss, he sees his goal. It is here that one abstracts in a few of the technical publications finds Dr. William Pitt Mason, professor of of the day. These writings seem to have Chemistry and head of the Department of reached a high point in 1888, for the volume of Chemicttl Engineering. Hale and hearty a t that year consisted of one hundred and ninetythree score and ten, the years have not dimmed eight pages, and scattered throughout the entire his keen interest in all that is new in chemistry, year are to be found sixty-five abstracts and nor lessened his ability and popularity as a one paper on carbon monoxide poisoning lecturer credited to him. Few scientists can lag claim to Should it happen to be approaching a lecture greater versatility than Dr Mason, for in 1898 period when one arrives to see the Doctor, we find in the same journal eight articles conthere arc: no long periods of waiting, but always a cerning such subjects as assaying, toxicology, cordial invitation to sit in and listen, and such water analysis, water supply, legal testimony, invitations are seldom declined. A short time W. P.MASON and industrial chemistry. T o catalog all his is consumed in outlining the subject matter writings would occupy more space than is and then the lecturer launches out into the details and theory available a t this time. When Dr. Mason became a member of the Chemistry Deof the reactions, so that the veriest beginner cannot fail to grasp the important steps. There are no dry spots in any of partment at Rensselaer, the student body number:d two hundred; the lectures, whether the subject be water or drying. And as to today there are eleven hundred students and a staff ol eleven water, a brief glance through the periodicals devoted to water men. At any time during the student year Dr. Mason can be and sanitation will convince the most skeptical that Dr. Mason found in the Walker Laboratory lecturing to his large classes or in surely knows water and its uses far better than most of us do. his private office planning improvements for the Department of Dr. Mason is one of the most pleasant and affable men to Chemical Engineering. As the years have gone from 1874 to meet whom one may find in long travel, as a host of his friends 1923 his capacity for hard work has increased steadily and the will testify. A member of many societies, he is not a mere courses offered ever keep abreast with the progress in chemistry dues-paying one, but always takes an interest in their meetings and chemical engineering. and coniributes generously to their scientific programs. F. W. SCHWARTZ
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