This customer had been opening 50 lb. bags of carbon black manually and wanted an automated system for improving the health and safety of their team, along with adding efficiency. This started with an engineering PO after an NBE teammate made a visit to their plant in snowy conditions right beforeChristmas. There were a lot of changes in the layout and scope, but we ultimately settled on this final configuration : The operator will load bags onto an incline feed conveyor, which runs through a cutting head with a 30” diameter blade. The cut bags enter the rotary separating drum that will screen out carbon black from the bags. The carbon black falls through the screen openings in the drum and transitions through a hopper with a slide gate and into customer supplied totes. The empty bags automatically discharge out the end of the drum and drop into a screw-type bag compactor