Capstone

Zero Loss Bag Filling

Sponsor: General Mills, Inc.

Team: Zero Loss

Coach: Greg Bishop

Students: Gordon Reese, Greg Broderick, Travis Anderson, Trevor Hedman, Rob Nelson, Mike Loftus.

Each year 360,000 lbs of dry mix powder is lost during the packaging process. This represents over $160,000 in bottom line dollars for the Martel General Mills Plant.

BYU Capstone worked with a General Mills packaging plant to identify areas where the dry mix might be lost. They came up with a functional prototype that will reduce the mix loss by nearly 75%. The Capstone team designed new cup shaped product gates that act as catchers underneath the packaging fill stations to collect mix normally lost as waste.

It is anticipated that this will save General Mills 270,000 lbs of powder and $120,000 annually. Assuming material cost remain constant, General Mills will recuperate their initial investment within 17 weeks after implementation.

2008/2009 Projects

• ATK Launch Systems
• Boeing (Auburn)
• Boeing (Everett)
• Burr Oak Tool, Inc.
• BYU
• Care for Life
• General Mills, Inc.
• Schlumberger
• Sustainable Energy Solutions, LLC
• Varian Medical Systems