AWBS Invest in New Specialised Hopper Feeder For Bagging Plant

At AWBS we’re committed to always providing an exceptional level of services to our customers, which is why we’ve recently commissioned a bespoke hopper feeder to be built and installed at our bagging plant. This means we can now process far larger amounts of material with exceptional speed – offering our customers higher stock levels, quick delivery and highly competitive prices.

Our new hopper has been built to our exact specifications by RM Group – specialists in the manufacture of packing systems and robotic automation. Some horticultural products such as peat, compost, soil and bark mulch can have poor flow characteristics, particularly when they are wet. In the past this has resulted in our bagging team sometimes struggling to process materials quickly enough to meet the rising demand of our customers. But, thanks to our £100,000 investment in our customised hopper feeder, these problems are now a thing of the past.

Before introducing our specialised hopper feeder to our bagging plant, it would take three to four days to process 80 cubic metres of bark chippings… now, it takes just a few hours!

“We invested in the new hopper to meet the increase in demands for horticulture products, which are time consuming to process, and reduce the cost to customers,” explains Bagging Plant Manager, Gavin Jones. “The biggest benefit is we can now process more materials, far quicker, in any conditions and weather, with very little noise.”

The new machinery will allow AWBS to massively increase the output of soils, barks and general horticultural materials. And, improving the efficiency and capabilities of our bagging plant will hugely benefit both existing and new customers, as we now have the ability to cope with the ever-growing demand for these products.

“Our hopper feeder is the highest-quality piece of machinery on the market,” says Gavin. “This is a large investment for us, further enforcing that AWBS is one of the leading suppliers of bagged materials in the local area.”

The customised design of the hopper uses two Archimedes screws with a powerful belt feed to easily agitate even the most difficult to process materials, in a matter of hours. In any weather, and no matter how wet the materials are, the two screws will break it up after it’s fed into the top of the machine, with very little noise and no dust in dry conditions. The conveyor then moves the materials to the bagging feeder.

At AWBS we’ve got all your horticultural, building and landscaping needs covered. Find out more about our extensive range of products and services on our website.