Reprinted with Permission from Seed Today

Large plastic ProBoxes are an integral part of the seed handling process at Pioneer Hi-Bred International, Inc.'s seed conditioning and warehouse facility in Plainview, TX.

Located in the Texas panhandle, this is Pioneer's only grain sorghum conditioning facility in North America. It also serves as a regional warehouse and distribution for corn and soybean seed.

“During return season, it is not uncommon for us to routinely clean and nest 50 ProBoxes a day,” says Johnny Baeza, Warehouse Traffic Manager. “We use these large plastic boxes for seed storage, seed delivery to customers and seed transport to and from other distribution centers.”

Most grain sorghum seed is sold to customers in 50-pound paper sacks. Before being bagged, preconditioned seed is frequently stored in ProBoxes. The seed is then treat-to-order immediately before shipment. Untreated seed is not put into boxes that have been used to hold treated seed.

Seed corn and soybean seed is shipped to Plainview mainly in paper bags from other Pioneer conditioning facilities. If a customer requests bulk seed delivery, a ProBox is immediately set up so bags can be emptied into it.

“When a farmer fills his 32-row planter, it takes a lot of seed,” Baeza says. “It is a service to our customers to make delivery in a ProBox.”

Safety Concerns
As the number of ProBoxes in use increased, Warehouse Manager Steve Spencer became concerned about the safety of the employees who repeatedly “nested” and “un-nested” the plastic containers.

When not in use, the top half of the box is lifted off the bottom, inverted and returned to a “nested” position that takes less space for storage.

To use the box, the process is reversed. A crew of three-one on the forklift to move the boxes and two to manually handle the top portion- was usually needed when numerous boxes were to be manipulated.

“It was hard work. We did have an injury,” Spencer recalls. “That is when we looked for a way to eliminate the manual lifting and turning.”

In 2001, Spencer bought two Nester Seed Box inverters from DBH, LLC, LeRoy, IL (309-962-4091/dbh@nesterboxinverter.com). The Nester® fits on a standard fork lift and clamps onto the side of a ProBox allowing the forklift to do the lifting. The top portion is manually rotated before being lowered onto the bottom portion.

“It has been a real labor-saver,” Spencer says. “Now two men can do more easily what formerly required three. We have greatly enhanced worker comfort by eliminating the manual lifting and turning of ProBoxes.”

Seed Today, Oct/Nov/Dec 2002, Vol.6 No. 4