TBK Group for total solutions: keeping conveyors on track

The TBK Group is a respected group of companies in The Netherlands that has been offering innovative solutions since 1956 to companies that operate in the mineral processing, mining, bulk handling and recycling sectors. The company offers total solutions to its customers for complex problems relating to conveying, screening, separating, breaking, grounding and storing bulk products.

 

* reducing spillage, dust and wear at transfer points;

* conveyor belt cleaning;

* conveyor belt tracking;

* industrial dust vacuum cleaning and complete dust control systems;

* rubber and polyurethane screens panels;

* vibrating conveyors, -screens, recycling machines and magnetic separators.

 

TBK Group’s latest product is the CenTrax multi roller belt tracker. It corrects mistracking of conveyor belts, both in the load-carrying strand and the return strand. CenTrax ensures that even under the most extreme conditions, the belt remains on the right track, regardless of the direction of rotation.

 

RWE Generation’s Eemshaven power plant is the largest coal and biomass power plant in the Netherlands. Covered conveyor belts ensure dust-free transport of the coal from ships to the power plant or the storage yard. This process was always accompanied by jerks and jolts due to frequent belt mistracking. The constant downtime of the conveyor belts caused delays in supply and additional costs. RWE consulted TBK Group, after which it was decided to install the CenTrax tracker rollers for a trial period. Within a month, it was already clear that CenTrax was the solution to the mistracking problem.

 

Gert-Jan Arkema, Maintenance Engineer Bulk Handling at RWE Generation Eemshaven, explains, “We use several conveyor belts at our power plant. We use a hopper to transfer the coal from one conveyor to another, but coal from the US and Russia is often damp, which means it sticks to the walls of the hopper. As a result, the load is then skewed when it reaches the conveyor belt, resulting in mistracking.

 

Previously, we had to stop the conveyors several times a day. Our downtime frequency is currently many times lower, resulting in huge cost savings. Reports of mistracking have dropped from 250 times per month to only three times per month. The investment soon pays for itself.”

 

Finding foreign distributors is very important for TBK Group now that demand from abroad is growing. This is why the TBK Group went in search of an export manager and welcomed Micha Bermentloo, who will search for the best distributors to handle CenTrax, Spillage Control and Dust Control. His work will concentrate on Europe in the coming year, with countries such as Belgium, Norway, Sweden, Germany and Spain high on the list. “The focus is now mainly on Europe, because at the moment we do not have a dealer in every country,” Bermentloo explains. “And, naturally, you should expand in the countries around you before you start looking beyond the European borders. This is what I want to do first.”

 

TBK Group hopes to take the next step of moving into countries outside Europe by 2020. “Export has a somewhat longer-term planning of about three years. Our goal is to increase export turnover by at least 50% during that time. We also want to have an additional four to five distributors. Exciting goals to work towards,”,says Bermentloo.

 

TBK Group is still looking for distributors for various countries, so anyone interested should get in contact.