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COTTON FARMING IS THE OFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF THE GINNING INDUSTRY.
Gins’ Objective: Doing More With Technology Fall and winter are probably my favorite times of the year. The obvious stuff aside – trees changing, a nip in the air and football – I love the harvest. The time of year where all the work farmers and ginners have done since the last harvest comes together. I love watching the marvels of engineering do what they were designed to do – make money. It’s also a time I wax a bit nostalgic. I think about all that has changed in our industry over the years, and how gins are doing so much more with less. I admit that I don’t get to the field and in the gins nearly as much as I would like to. There always seems to be another article to write, meeting to attend or crisis that needs resolving. However, during the last few years, I’ve made it a point to visit gins during the fall. It never ceases to amaze me the changes in technology year-to-year and the increased rate at which that technology is being adopted. Nostalgia Of Small Gins I’ve been working directly with ginners for about 25 years now, and the area of the country in which I started working had a LOT of small, older gins. These gins ranged from seven bales per hour to 30 bales per hour with an average near the 12- to 15-bale range. The biggest of those gins back then did 30,000 bales or so, and many ginned less than 5,000 bales. Even the smallest gins had 10 to 15 workers for each shift. There are a number of those gins still around, and they provide a GREAT service to their customers and may put out the best samples in the industry. But, the pressures of the economies of scale seem to have taken a toll on those small local operations. As I’ve talked to some of my members in recent weeks and even years, I’ve commented on the technology that has found its way into our business.
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Everything from apps on cell phones to touch screen glass control panels (only a couple of physical buttons to run the whole gin) have become more commonplace. Its just scary. The one thing that almost everyone has told me when I ask about these goodies is that they felt like they had to go this route. Not that they wanted or even needed to gin faster than the guy down the road, but the pressures of labor, quality and availability dictated decisions. Impressive Advancements What used to be handled by two or three gin plants is now handled by one or two gin stands. What previously required 40 buttons (or more) and a good bit of training can now be done with a touch screen and PLCs and very little training – meaning the gin can do more now with less. The one area that has continued to need a lot of labor is the press. It is seeing big changes as well. Over the
past few years, we’ve seen a number of changes in tying bales. Bagging bales and pulling samples have slowly but surely eliminated employees on the press as well as allowed the gin to run more with even less. Now we have 40 or even 60 bale perhour gins being run with less than 10 employees on a shift. A gin that runs 80,000 bales may only have 25 or so employees. When my great-grandfather owned a gin in South Carolina in the 1930s and 1940s, I’m sure he never could have imagined a single gin stand that could process more than the whole county’s production where he lived. Maybe I’m just getting old. In some ways, I do miss the old gins. You could hear the seed roll spinning on the gin saw teeth almost singing. The suck pipe was swinging in a trailer. Then again, I don’t miss banging my head or having to climb over one machine to get to another because everything was shoehorned into a tiny box. If you ever
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swung a suck pipe, you’d know it was more art than science and could work even a strong kid to death. No, I don’t miss that at all. Things change. We see it all around us, and change can be good. I become nostalgic sometimes and miss those “good old days,� but I’m so proud to be part of an industry that has had the ability and flexibility to see the need to change and adapt. It is these changes and adaptations that will keep us moving forward – allowing us to do more with less and continue to lead the rest of the world.
Cotton Gin Brushes
Channel Saws
Our precision CNC fabricating equipment enables us to produce the highest quality gin brushes and channel saws at a very competitive price. When it comes to our products, we use only the highest quality “Made in the USA� raw materials available. We know gin machinery and the conditions in which it has to perform, and our brushes and channel saws are manufactured to an exacting standard for the modern cotton gin.
Dusty Findley of the Southeastern Cotton Ginners’ Association contributed this article. Contact him at dusty@southern-southeastern.org.
Cotton’s Calendar 2015 Feb. 6-8 – NCC Annual Meeting, Memphis, Tenn. Feb. 19-20 – USDA Ag Outlook, Washington, D.C. Feb. 27-28 – Mid-South Farm/Gin Show, Memphis, TN. April 9-10 – TCGA Trade Show, Lubbock, Texas. May 13-15 – ACSA Meeting, Santa Barbara, Calif. Aug. 24-26 – NCC Board Meeting, Charleston, S.C. Sept. 16 – Staplcotn Annual Meeting, Greenwood, MS. Sept. 16 – PCCA Annual Meeting, Lubbock, Texas. Oct. 21 – PCCA Board Meeting, Lubbock, Texas. Nov. 18 – PCCA Board Meeting, Lubbock, Texas. Dec. 16 – PCCA Board Meeting, Lubbock, Texas.
Come see us at the Mid-South Gin Show
Ask your supplier for
RAM Brushes & Channel Saws or give us a call
RAM Manufacturing Company 1333 E. 44th St. Lubbock, TX 79404 806-745-5552 Fax: 806-745-5582 rammfgco@rammfg.net www.rammfg.net
Moisture, Drying & Fire Prevention Solutions for your gin. Mid-South: 662-809-9730 Lubbock: 1-800-862-9966 samjackson.com
Parts, Supplies, New and Used Machinery Buy and Sell
MILES GIN SUPPLY Elm Mott,TX 76640
Call or Fax (254) 829-1201 Night (254) 829-2372
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NORTHERN/LUCUS MACHINE 1116 Slaton Hwy. Lubbock, TX FOR SALE: 2 – 158 GIN STANDS WITH CONTROLS MANUFACTURER OF HI-CAPACITY LINT CLEANING SYSTEMS IN 86” to 110” WIDTHS NEW 60” & 72” OVERSHOT BATTERY CONDENSERS 96” TO 144” INCLINE CLEANERS, STICK MACHINES & AIRLINE SEPARATORS HIGH CAPACITY VACUUMS USED & FACTORY REBUILT GIN MACHINERY BALE HANDLING SYSTEMS COMPLETE LINE OF REPAIR PARTS FOR MURRAY, MITCHELL, H.E., CONSOLIDATED, CONTINENTAL, MOSS, LUMMUS, HORN & CMI 806-745-8156 1-800-776-8182 FAX 806-745-0564 E-MAIL: NORTHERNLUCUS@YAHOO.COM WWW.NORTHERNLUCUS.COM
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Physical Address: 225 Bourne Boulevard • Savannah, Georgia 31408-9586 USA Mailing Address: P.O. Box 929 • Pooler, Georgia 31322-0929 USA Phone: (912) 447-9000 • Fax: (912) 447-9250 Toll Free (USA Only): 1-800-4LUMMUS (1-800-458-6687) Web Site: www.lummus.com • E-mail: lummus.sales@lummus.com ®
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