Quala held an open house Nov 13 at its La Porte, Texas facility to inaugurate a proprietary new tank cleaning technology called FastTrax.
This is the second Quala facility outfitted with the company’s FastTrax tank cleaning technology. The first location was in Rahway NJ, and plans are underway to install systems at two additional Quala Midwest facilities in 2020.
FastTrax combines extremely high-pressure tank wash technology with a single-pass process that uses approximately 50% less water. Cleaning solutions and steam are injected directly into the wash process, which includes a multitude of customized cleaning recipes along with an innovative dryer system.
Four bays at the La Porte wash rack were outfitted with the FastTrax system, and technicians in each bay can easily clean 20 tanks per shift, according to Jeff Noble, Quala’s Senior Vice-President of Operations. Combined, the four bays can clean upwards of 140 tanks a day.
“Our standard, non-viscous, clean with the FastTrax system takes about 15 minutes,” Noble says. “We have three key objectives with this system: improve cycle time, raise cleaning quality, and promote worker safety. With this new technology we are hitting all of those targets.”
“With cleaning pressures that are five times higher than traditional systems and special spinner configurations, we’re able to cover more of the tank interior, including corners around the front and rear heads. Less hand labor is required now, which means less tank entry. Our goal is to eliminate all tank entry. To date, we’ve cleaned over 2,000 tank trailers with the FastTrax system, and we have had zero rejections for product quality,” continued Noble.
“In addition to the latest developments in tank cleaning, we’re making a variety of facility improvements that will give our customers a greater range of services,” says Henry McKinney, Quala’s La Porte Facility Manager. “We’re adding a tractor and trailer maintenance shop, and the six-bay facility will be finished in early 2020. We’ve also added eight acres of parking for tractors and trailers. We still have a total of nine cleaning bays to handle a variety of cleans.”
Quala has signed a multi-year agreement to be the exclusive provider of this tank wash technology in North America. Plans are to have this featured in over 20 sites within the next few years. “Our ultimate objective is to keep our customers’ trailers on the road by improving turnaround times. In this way, we can help our customers reduce capital intensity and improve driver utilization,” said Scott Harrison, CEO.