WINBELT - Belt Conveyor Design Software by Creative Engineering

WINBELT is a suite of Windows® based programs that equate quality and price to advance the engineering, application, marketing and economic use of belt conveyors.

Based on Conveyor Equipment Manufacturers Association (CEMA), International ISO-5048, AISC, Pulley Manufacturers and US Standards, employs both Imperial and metric units. Common code and file sharing with legacy CREATIVE belt design program obtains results proven worldwide for over 20 years.

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The CATCH 22 faced by buyers and sellers of belt conveyors was perhaps best expressed by one vendor who was quoted as saying

"Price is paramount. Price is often the most obvious thing in a contract, whereas quality of product is rather more intangible. However, equipment companies cannot sell their products just because they are cheap - they have to be good as well. The equipment manufacturers have to achieve a fine balance between cost and quality."

Sellers learn that insufficient quality drives customers away just as surely as a non-competitive price. And, buyers too often belatedly learn that excessive maintenance, repair and business interruption costs far exceed the original price paid. Resolving this dilemma is not assisted by the millions of different combinations by which every belt conveyor can be built or the variety of operating conditions under which they must operate.

WINBELT overcomes these paradox by integrating a cost data base within an analytical engineering design program. QUALITY AT LEAST COST evolves logically rather than as an accident tacked on at another place and time. Requirements of both buyer and seller are brought together as one.

While the original CREATIVE BELT CONVEYOR DESIGN & ESTIMATING PROGRAM satisfied a generation of users, pressure mounted for a Windows version. Development criteria for WINBELT demanded that there be no additional risk usually associated with a new code. This need was met by a sharing of code and file system with the legacy program. As a result users can exchange files between programs and with minimal editing expect similar results.

ENGINEERING - DE-BUGGING - BOOBY TRAPS - MAINTENANCE

Successful engineering design of belt conveyors must look beyond just meeting immediate performance goals but also to minimizing purchase and after purchase costs.

The purpose of every belt conveyor is to haul material. Haulage can also be performed by trains, trucks, barges, screw conveyors, wheel barrows etc. In most cases the choice is obvious. In other cases AC_HAULPLAN helps select in terms accountants understand. Questions regarding application and arrangement should always be answered first.

Engineering principles for obtaining a level of belt conveyor performance are well known. Obviously millions of belt conveyors are operating worldwide everyday.

WINBELT developed from a larger curiosity that questioned, in addition, how best to maximize profit. This interest came from an awareness that any belt conveyor can be built in millions of different combinations but also that failure and maintenance costs go on forever. Maximizing profit must consider both purchase price and after purchase costs. WINBELT'S integration of both engineering and cost data within a single program enables an intelligent seeking of this goal.

MAINTENANCE

After purchase costs must be minimized to maximize users profit. Analysis of tension under running, acceleration, deceleration and stopped belt conditions identifies defects while applying tensions in real time to component design ensures proper selection.

Some belt conveyor defects compare to booby traps that result in huge immediate business interruption loss. Other defects are more insidious like an infestation of termites, eating away at profits just as surely. To understand the scope of these the following list names but a few:

BELT CONVEYOR DEFECTS THAT CAN END IN ABRUPT CATASTROPHIC LOSS INCLUDE:

Pulley end plate failure
Belt/splice failure due to small pulley diameter.
Belt/splice failure due to insufficient strength.
Festooning due to loss of belt tension under some condition.
Breakaway failure.

OTHER DEFECTS LEADING TO EXCESSIVE MAINTENANCE COSTS INCLUDE:

Improperly spaced idlers leading to sag/spillage
Improperly specified idlers leading to premature replacement

MISSED OPPORTUNITIES FOR COST SAVINGS INCLUDE:

Not extending idler space where tension permits
Specifying over-size components.

Best achieving these goals is explained at: AA_WINBELT

MARKETING

After a prospect is found and a need defined discussions usually turn to price.

Belt conveyors are seldom "off the shelf" and preparing a price is time consuming. To make efficient use of time it is wise for sales types to separate the "chaff" from solid prospects.

AB_ESTIMATOR is intended for field use by salesmen. Working with a lap top computer field salesman working from simple data entry can obtain a price of sufficient accuracy to qualify prospect's interest. Based on that expression of interest a decision can be made on how best to proceed.

If a project requires feasibility analysis the price determined by AB_ESTIMATOR is sufficiently accurate to meet this requirement without further expenditure of time while still meeting clients immediate need.

Haulage feasibility studies are tedious and time consuming. It is in the interest of both buyer and seller to expedite this. AC_HAULPLAN reduces months of work to just a few hours or less and in the process can examine more alternatives. Expediting decisions can favorably reward the astute vendor who has stepped forward with this assistance.

Having qualified the prospect AA_WINBELT provides engineering and, with proper price multipliers entered, quotation quality price for the components and estimates for the installed belt conveyor.

Structural steel is often the "the tail that wags the dog" in a belt conveyor proposal. To assist at finalizing these numbers WINBELT provides two programs that assist at projecting these prices: AD_TRUSS and AE_BENT