Bags of Innovation from Linertech
Whilst InterBulk Group is probably best known as an international intermodal liquid and dry bulk Logistics Company, the group also boasts one of the World’s most innovative container liner companies in Linertech of the UK.
As the demand for one trip containers using liners grew and the practice became common place, there were always improvements and innovations to develop in response to customers concerns. Michael Massie, Head of R&D at Linertech comments “In the beginning all liners were basically the same. We decided to take the strategic decision to develop and improve our products and services in line with the rising quality expectations of our customers and markets. Serving our customers gave us ideas about how best to learn and improve”
A development that the Linertech management are particularly proud of is - they were the first provider of liners to come up with the concept of a patented ‘safety liner’.
Mei Lewis, Business Development Manager for InterBulk recalls “We were conscious of customers and legislation pressing for an easily achieved safe sampling point and increased inspection of materials before final discharge from ground level. In order to check the material, the driver needs to gain access to the inside of the liner. Traditionally this had always been done through the loading sleeves of the liner via the top hatches of the container. In response Linertech developed a system that allows for the liner contents to be sampled and resealed at ground level. In addition, the liner also has a “self-venting” facility which avoids the traditional means of venting the liner during discharge, which is opening a loading sleeve at the top of the container. The Linertech safety liner also comes with increased levels of strengthening and reinforcement, further preventing the opportunity for mishaps, spillages or accidents".
The ‘Safety Liner’ was widely mimicked across the dry bulk liner industry. Massie notes “From launch in 2003 we were quickly aware of our competitor’s claims of similar if not identical designs. There is not a lot we can do in terms of our rivals wanting to copy us. I suppose its flattering” In the space of a year, every manufacturer had their own design of safety liner out there, mainly due to changing market demands”.
Since the LinerTech safety liner, there has been fresh innovation from the Linertech technical team working in partnership with parent company InterBulk Group plc.
Linertech have created a ’Fluidised Liner’. This liner is used for a number of difficult to discharge materials using the ‘bag-in-box’ concept. Mei Lewis explains “Some materials can be difficult to discharge because of their material characteristics. Products can awkwardly agglomerate (clump together) and block. This normally calls for some manual intervention usually involving air vibrators or men with hammers.
The fluidised liner negates the necessity for such actions. It is made from a flexible material that resembles ‘bubble wrap’. The spaces between the bubbles create the plenum and fill up with air in a two dimensional network, providing a channel for the fluidising air to pass through the plenum by the addition of compressed air at low pressure. This fluidising air then passes through a perforated surface into the product material above and reduces the friction between the particles of the material and the floor surface of the liner, leading to the material contents sliding out the discharge sleeve”.
The fluidised liner has been shown to be ideal for ‘sticky’ cohesive materials such as, starch, flour and certain speciality chemicals. The liner is made from food grade film, which meets all current UK, EU and FDA food legislation and is manufactured to ISO 22000, making it ideal for all food powders not suited to traditional liners.
Mei Lewis commented, “We are delighted with the performance of the LinerTech Fluidising Liner and through our partnership with InterBulk have sold in excess of 50,000 units since conception….understandably we were keen to patent the technology Worldwide”.
Development of LinerTech’s solutions is a time consuming process, involving prototyping, thorough testing and a lot of patience. Much of the development work takes place because a customer has a handling problem with a specific material or is new to the concept of the “bag-in-the-box”. This is what differentiates LinerTech from its competitors, as it provides a “solution” rather than a product.
Our relationship with InterBulk’s dry bulk business also means we can sit down together with customers and take a long term approach to developing highly bespoke solutions. We have built up a lot of shared knowledge with InterBulk and each has a deep understanding of each others issues”.
Guy Martin is Technical Manager for the InterBulk Group ‘bag-in-box’ business. and heads up InterBulk Group’s new Product Development Team. Guy explains “The Fluidising liner overcomes many of the discharge issues associated with difficult materials that can clump and cause ‘surges’. A surge of material can compromise safety and damage kit.
Nick Sierant, InterBulk Groups, head of sales for foodbulk products added "The fluidising liner is pushing back the boundaries of bag-in-box technology and giving further incentives for a range of companies to send products by more sustainable intermodal means, saving cost and also helping the environment through reduced CO2 emissions as customers switch from silo trucks to ‘bag-in-box’.
Sierant adds “The fluidising liner cuts cost and effort associated with manual handling, it cuts out the need for extra equipment such as screw feeders, allowing more space for product on every load and it’s as user friendly to install or remove as standard liners. We see the fluidising liner as a great way to increase the scope of products moved intermodally by ‘bag-in-box’”.
InterBulk Group and Linertech are providing their first European trials of the fluidising liner in Holland for a flow of starch from France. We are sure it will be the first of many!