Culbertson shuttle site meets goal

CULBERTSON, Nebraska -- Frenchman Valley Coop met its goal, and its new "Culbertson shuttle site" was ready for wheat harvest 2013.

The first truck of wheat rolled across the new inbound scale on Wednesday morning, July 3.

The new facility has separate inbound and outbound scales and the capacity to receive 34,000 bushels an hour at two dump sites.

It can load out 60,000 bushels an hour into outbound Burlington Northern Santa Fe 110-car shuttle trains (with the capability to expand to 120-car shuttles).

While the facility was designed and built for shuttle loading and not for long-term grain storage, it can hold 1.4 million bushels, and for the fall harvest, an additional 1 million bushels in temporary capacity.

The facility's rail loop means that NKC trains can transfer grain from Frenchman Valley locations in Imperial and Grant to fill shuttle trains at the Culbertson shuttle site. "This is a good location for us to tie into both rail lines," said Frenchman Valley McCook branch manager Mark Friehe.

The facility operates with four full-time employees, although they bring in additional staff from other FVC locations when they load shuttle cars, the schedule of which depends on markets, the amount of grain received and weather.

Frenchman Valley invested in this facility to access and take advantage of additional rail markets, Friehe said, and to enhance their response to producers who, at harvest time in particular, need speed (to return to fields) and space (with large grain carts, combines and semis). "We can handle a large volume of trucks -- inbound and outbound," Friehe said. These efficiencies give Frenchman Valley the opportunity to offer better prices to producers, and very competitive lighter test weight discounts and high protein premiums. "Shuttle loading, better pricing and discounts and premiums help us to be very competitive in the grain market," Friehe said.

All operations throughout the facility are computerized and designed to be fail-safe, wired by control engineers Kelton Neighbors and Nimit Shah of kasa Controls and Automation, Salina, Kansas. Control panels track grain movement ("The grain can't go into the wrong bin," Neighbors said); monitor hazards and log graphs (for down-to-the-minute tracking for up to two years).

"We try to bring all (operations) of the facility into the grading shack -- making the facility's operations as simple and as safe as possible," he said. A sophisticated camera system aids the staff in probing and sampling inbound and outbound grains and serves as surveillance for the purpose of security throughout the entire facility.

The miles and miles of bundled wires that snake in and out of wiring panels in the MCC (Main Control Center) building are very impressive -- "We make it as neat and professional as we can," Neighbors said. "It's easier to troubleshoot that way."

All wires lead to one "PLC" (Programmable Logic Controller), about the size of an old VCR tape. "This one card controls the entire operation," Neighbors said. "Every single wire in this building comes back to this card." Battery back-up with surge protectors will save the system in case of a power interruption or outage, he said. "If all else fails, if the PLC fails, switch to 'manual operation' and run with caution," Neighbors told Friehe with a grin.

Friehe is impressed, also, with the construction of the facility. "The structure is sound, the work is high quality," Friehe said, citing Frisbee Construction of Gypsum, Kansas.