Botanical PaperWorks Seed Bomb Production Process Improvement

Abstract

Botanical PaperWorks sought to increase the profitability of their seed bomb product through the improvement of their production process. Prairie Roots has accomplished this by redesigning three components of the production process: dewatering, forming and drying. The dewatering method adds a quality control measure through the addition of a fill line within the standard five-gallon pail currently used in the process. This fill line represents an 11% increase in the water removed from the pulp and facilitates the use of a newly designed forming mold. The new forming tool features an elongated spherical cavity to allow for a rolling motion to be applied to the seed bombs. The new forming mold increases production rate from 120 to 171 seed bombs per hour. Expansion of the forming mold is recommended by implementing an interlocking dovetail feature that allows multiple molds to be connected. This will further increase production rate up to 300 seed bombs per hour. Finally, a bi-level plenum dryer was designed to direct the air flow vertically over the seed bombs. The 500 CFM air mover is ducted to two plenums which are situated above the seed bomb trays. The new dryer design holds1250 seed bombs, reduces drying time from 48 to 36 hours and reduces equipment footprint to 1.79 m2. Prairie Roots recommends increasing the air mover capacity to 1800 CFM and adding a third plenum to the dryer. This will increase capacity to 1875 seed bombs and further reduce drying time. Through implementation of Prairie Roots designs, Botanical PaperWorks can expect to drastically reduce lead time, leading to a more profitable product and increased worker satisfaction through reduction of the strain they experience...