Dane Floyd launched Biomass Engineering & Equipment in 2011 to address a specific problem: subpar performance among drag conveyors handling waste wood. Most drag conveyors then, as now, were prone to excessive wear and unreliable performance. As a longtime veteran of the veneer and lumber industries, he was acquainted with the run-of-the-mill conveyance systems available on the market and knew he could develop something better.
That he accomplished—and more. Dane wasn’t satisfied with simply building a better drag conveyor. The bar was too low for better to be meaningful. So, he aimed to build the best. Toward this end, he hired a team of engineers, which refined his design into a truly smart alternative to the “dumb, chain-in-a-box conveyors” so common across North America. And hence their name SMART Conveyors™.
Dane grew BE&E during the company’s first ten years by focusing on waste handling at wood-manufacturing facilities, where drag conveyors were commonly employed. His equipment thus regularly conveyed materials that didn’t flow well and which were contaminated with dirt, sand, and the occasional oversized object. Rather than hampering the business, these challenges drove Dane and his team to address shortcomings and produced the robust system SMART Conveyors™ are today.
As the number of SMART Conveyors™ in service increased, so did opportunities for BE&E to address new challenges. Consequentially, when the NFPA® published its updated standards for handling explosive dust in 2019 and 2020, the company was ready with a proven, field-tested solution that could fulfill the requirements. Being fully enclosed, SMART Conveyors™ were generally dust tight already, so it took few modifications to ensure full compliance: the company’s engineers plugged minute gaps, for example, and they designed bolt-on components for fire and explosion suppression. They also tested simulated and physical conveyor models to guarantee they complied with standards for their ability to withstand overpressures in the event of an explosion.
With these changes in place, companies began calling on BE&E to improve dust control at their facilities and to supply machinery for greenfield projects. At the same time, others looked to BE&E to help them reduce labor and increase efficiency, issues spurred by a dwindling skilled workforce and mounting incentives to reduce energy consumption. Both issues the company could address because the unique design features that made SMART Conveyors™ dependable also made them incredibly efficient; it’s not uncommon for them to require half the power of mechanical conveyors they replace, and they’ve required up to 25 times less energy than pneumatic systems.
Due to SMART Conveyors’™ recurring success, manufacturers outside BE&E’s bread-and-butter customer pool began taking notice of the machines. As of today, BE&E has supplied equipment to feed mills, insulation manufacturers, gypsum board recycling facilities, OSB plants (strand handling), general waste processors, ethanol plants, food product manufacturers, and tire recyclers.
With so many companies opting for SMART Conveyors™, they’re worth your time investigating. Of course, because others are buying them doesn’t prove anything about BE&E’s machinery, but it does beg the question why? We’re confident that when you compare our systems to the competition, you’ll understand. SMART Conveyors™ aren’t simply better, they’re the best drag conveyors made.
What’s important to you? Dust control? Safety? Reliability? SMART Conveyors™ check the boxes. Contact us with your challenges related to bulk handling. Our team is ready with a solution.
