You can probably add this to your long list of questions you’ve never asked… What industries out there in the real world need scales? Well I’m glad you finally asked that question! The answer is almost all of them. Retail and industrial scales are actually used in a wide range of industries. You see retail scales in places like butcher shops and deli’s and farmers markets. Industrial style scales are used in virtually all businesses in one way or another like manufacturing, logistics, and agriculture to name a few. Below are some key areas where scales are a vital part of the workflow.
How Scales Help with Aggregates Processing
Aggregate processing, mining and construction companies rely on heavy-duty equipment to stand up to the challenging conditions of bulk material processing.
Weighing systems must be durable enough to meet the demands of this industry and perform reliably every day. From material load-out to batching operations and every step in between, reliable material monitoring is critical to success.
Some of the key products that you see in this industry include: Truck Scales. These are an ideal solution for monitoring vehicle loads when transporting aggregates. A durable, accurate truck scale acts as your site’s cash register for product transactions. Not only should your truck scale provide reliable weighments day after day, it should have features that can help promote employee safety. Consider the OSHA or MSHA requirements your equipment needs to meet to ensure safe operating conditions. Your truck scale may need guiderails that are compliant with MSHA standards if it’s going to be installed at a mine or quarry.
For temporary work sites, an axle scale offers quick load checking to ensure you don’t have under- or overloaded axles. Axle scales also provide reliable inventory tracking so you can easily track materials as they leave or enter your facility. Because axle scales are portable, sites such as short-term stone quarries can move the scale exactly where it’s needed to create the most efficient flow of traffic as the quarry expands. Axle scales are durable, accurate solutions to help ensure safe loads for trucks hauling aggregates, stones, sand and other bulk material.
Cranes and overhead equipment are a reliable, efficient way to move bulk material and containers but can cause safety risks due to caught loads or overloaded equipment. Overhead weighing solutions including crane scales and integrated load cells provide real-time measurement of the operational load as well as immediate feedback to operators and safety systems, preventing unsafe conditions.
Scales in Agriculture
Weighing Solutions for the Agricultural Industry. With a proven reputation for turning investment into profit, our lineup of agriculture products make a measurable difference in farming and agricultural applications. From stationary, portable and mobile livestock scales to digital weight indicators, utility truck scales and farm load cell bars, our products help maximize agriculture investments—all while keeping safety, quality and performance at the forefront.
For single-animal weighing, the SLV are ideal solutions small- to medium-sized operations that do not require a multi-animal scale. Rice Lake’s SLV single animal scale offers the features of a RoughDeck floor scale modified to meet the demands of livestock weighing with a diamond treadplate and rigid structural-steel channel frame.
For a variety of weighing tasks around the farm or ranch, Rice Lake’s Farm Bars offer a multi-purpose, non-Legal for Trade weighing system that will provide years of trouble-free service. Farm Bars are ideal for mounting under cattle squeeze chutes, hog crates, feed hoppers or custom platforms for weight verification needs. In farm and ranch applications, weight plays an important role, from point-of-sale livestock weighing and weight verification in a cattle squeeze chute to crop-hauling truck and tractor weighing. Rice Lake’s livestock and agriculture solutions help farmers and ranchers improve their processes while maximizing their agriculture investment with durable, dependable and strong weighing equipment that hold up to their return-on-investment promise.
Scales in Manufacturing
In the manufacturing world, electronic weighing scales are used to weigh raw materials and finished products. Typically you will find scales like crane scales, UPS shipping scales, 600 lb capacity bench scales, parts counting scales and 5×5 floor scales.
Manufacturing businesses will benefit from our vast selection of high quality weighing products. Equipment is available in the broadest range of capacities to fit almost any weighing need. From counting scales, bench scales and checkweighers to forklift scale attachments and floor scales, our experience can be put to work for virtually every aspect of manufacturing processes.
Counting scales are an essential tool for accurately counting and inventorying large quantities of small parts. Parts counting scales are very similar to other scales in terms of weighing, but perform additional functions of division and multiplication based on the internal resolution. Counterpart is a configurable indicator with amazingly precise internal resolution. It counts any part—from tiny resistors to heavy engine parts— accurately, quickly and easily.
For shipping and receiving, general material handling needs and weight-based assembly processes, bench scales from Rice Lake have been constructed for dependability inside and out. Rice Lake’s BenchMark series of bench scales features a signature design with rigid steel frames and incredible performance.
Offering high-performance features with unmatched ease of use, checkweighing devices are designed to excel in industrial processing. For static applications, Rice Lake’s CW-90X over/under checkweigher brings advanced weighing features and efficiency to the production line. The CW-90X offers a stainless steel construction and an extra-strength piezo keypad made to withstand sharp knife-point contacts. With an IP69K rating to survive daily sanitary washdowns along with NSF certification, the CW-90X assures the highest level of compliance for production plants.
For large material handling in manufacturing facilities, Rice Lake’s RoughDeck floor scales are some of the toughest, most accurate floor scales available. RoughDeck’s rugged and durable design minimizes deck deflection and extraneous forces that could damage load cells. These features, along with RoughDeck’s superior structural design, distinguish it from other lesser floor scales on the market.
Scales Used for Shipping & Logistics
From stock inventory and outgoing package weights to LTL material handling and pallet dimensions, we offer comprehensive logistic solutions. Logistic departments are busy, material-handling environments, and they require equipment and tools that simplify processes and enhance efficiency. With many carriers enacting dimensional weight pricing, shipping departments will need to re-evaluate their material packaging and shipping processes to deter fines and compliance issues.
To ensure shipping and receiving departments adhere to dimensional weight (dim weight) shipping prices, Rice Lake offers iDimension Series dimensioning systems as a compliance solution. Ideal for packages ranging from tabletop flats and polybags to boxes, tubes and LTL multi-piece pallets, the iDimension Series has dimensioning systems for many logistic environments. iDimension Series dimensioning systems use high-resolution cameras, workplace-safe sensing technology and 3D imaging to convert packages and irregular object shapes into accurate, cubed dimensions.
For larger material handling and package weights, Rice Lake’s RoughDeck floor scales are some of the toughest, most accurate floor scales available. Logistic departments require durable equipment to simplify material handling processes, enhance shipping efficiency and maintain postal compliance. We offer the highest-quality and most cutting-edge weight-related and measurement tools for the logistics industry—all backed by legendary customer support.
Scales in the Waste Business
The waste industry demands heavy-duty scale equipment that is built to survive long periods of service and harsh environments. From truck scales and onboard weighing systems to indicators/controllers and process control equipment, we have developed several heavy-duty weighing products ideal for the waste industry.
To power the process, our selection of scale weight indicators provide the capabilities waste and refuse businesses need to control processes, record data, automate applications, print customer tickets and more with intuitive features and remarkably easy-to-use interfaces.
In waste management and recycling facilities, weight plays an important role from waste inventory tracking and maintenance, to waste disposal and sustainable initiatives. Our weighing and process control equipment help waste-industry businesses improve overall efficiency.
Our Healthcare Scales Offer Weighing at Every Stage of Life
Every patient is unique. So are our healthcare scales. From caring for the tiniest of patients to caring for grandparents, our scales are uniquely designed for every stage of life. We know accurate weight data is essential to good patient care and is critical for intake, charting, accurate medication dosing and more.
Scales Used for Food Processing
To enhance food production processes, meet quality checks and optimize the bottom line, you can depend on our food processing weighing solutions. We offer a comprehensive selection of weighing equipment for food production applications. From grain weighing and feed management to food processing and portioning, our products bring efficiency and accuracy to the table when it comes to food production, quality and compliance. With several products available for heavy washdown environments—essential in produce, meat and poultry processing— our solutions help manufacturers keep operations within sanitary requirements.
In a production facility, weighing products throughout operations is a key step to ensuring strict quality and classification compliance. For raw food material handling and processing, Rice Lake’s RoughDeck HE floor scale weighs food containers on its stainless steel deck designed specifically for corrosion resistance and long life in demanding washdown applications. Its smartly built construction keeps sensitive electronics far from damaging chemicals, moisture and food build-up for dependable, accurate weighing throughout production.
For static, heavy-washdown and HACCP-required processes, CW-90X over/under checkweigher brings advanced weighing features and efficiency to the production line. The CW-90X offers stainless steel construction and an extra-strength piezo keypad made to withstand sharp knife-point contacts. With an IP69K rating to survive daily sanitary washdowns along with its NSF certification, the CW-90X assures the highest level of compliance and safety in food production weighing.
From ready-to-eat food processing and packaging to direct-sale market counters and everything in between, Rice Lake’s Versa-portion bench scale offers ultimate versatility for food production. With an IP68 rating and stainless steel construction, the Versa-portion RLP-S is ideal for sanitary environments.
Food labs and high-value food processing applications require precise, sanitary weighing. The sleek, stainless steel housing of the Rice Lake TS Series balance which offers exceptional IP65 rated precision food weighing. Unique tuning fork technology enables high-speed response time with stable and reliable results. RS-232 connectivity to a PC and other equipment is invaluable for creating and storing compliance and quality records.
So as we wrap up this what companies utilize weighing scales entry, as you can see, these are just a few of the industries that utilize scales every single day. If you need some assistance choosing the proper scale for your application, be sure to contact customer service and we can assist. Our scales are designed to provide accurate and reliable weight measurements for years of service.