White Paper – Enhancing Levels of Due Diligence - Mettler Toledo

Vehicle Scales
6 METTLER TOLEDO Newsletters 1/2012
Serving the Palm Oil Industry
Top Quality Vehicle Scales for Tropical Climate
The tropical climate of Southeast Asia is humid and thunderstorms are common. Electronic
components are prone to failure when left out in the elements due to moisture and frequent
lightning. However, truck scales using the POWERCELL PDX ® load cell network have
proven to be reliable in any environment, including Malaysia. Customers like palm oil producer
Sime Darby are using this reliability to their advantage.
Oil palm trees were first planted commercially
in Malaysia in 1917 by William Sime
and Henry Darby, founders of Sime Darby.
Today, about 45% of the world’s palm oil is
produced in Malaysia with Sime Darby being
the largest palm oil producer in the
world, producing over 2.4 million tons annually.
Sime Darby Plantation operations
include 42 oil mills in Malaysia and another
23 mills in Indonesia. In total, the company
manages over 530,000 hectares (1.3
million acres) planted with oil palm trees.
Oil palm trees require a tropical climate
and are typically found within 20º of the
equator. The oil palm fruit is made up of
an oily, fleshy outer layer and a single seed
kernel. Roughly 22% of the fruit can be
extracted as oil, producing significantly
higher yields than other seed oils. The
palm fruit is reddish and is typically 3–5 cm
in length. It grows in large bunches referred
to as fresh fruit bunches or FFB.
Palm oil is reasonably priced and is high
in natural antioxidants. It is a very com-
Courtesy Malaysian Palm Oil Council
mon cooking ingredient throughout
Southeast Asia and the tropical belt of
Africa. In recent years, its use in commercial
food processing applications has
been growing around the world. There is
also growing demand for palm oil in biodiesel
as a source of renewable fuel.
Producing palm oil
Harvesting the FFB is a delicate process
that requires highly skilled workers. The
FFB grows high in the trees and weighs
30–50 kg (65–110 lb) when ripe. They
are cut with a blade on a long pole and
fall as much as 20 m (60 feet) to the
ground. It is critical to begin the milling
process the same day the FFB is cut from
the tree to preserve the quality of the oil.
Free fatty acids begin to form in the FFB
once it is cut. The acids, which degrade
the quality of the oil, continue to rise
within the FFB until it undergoes the
steam sterilization process at the mill.
Mills receive the FFB, extract the oil from
the pulp of the fruit, and collect the ker-
Palm fruit. Recently cut fresh fruit bunch (FFB). Refined palm oil.
nels from the fruit center. The extracted
oil is then sent to a refinery where the oil
is further processed into edible oil. Sime
Darby Plantation’s East Oil Mill on Carey
Island is one of the company’s larger
mills, producing 400 tons of oil per day.
The mill has been steadily growing since
it was opened in 1983. The mill currently
has 109 employees working 3 shifts. They
are continuously improving and automating
their processes.
The POWERCELL ® Advantage
Vehicle weighing is an essential part of
the mill process. Fruit bunches are
brought to the mill on trucks or tractorpulled
wagons from all around the region.
The loads are weighed for payment
and inventory control. Once the oil is
milled, it is put into large tankers that
are weighed as they leave the facility on
their way to the refinery.
In 2008, the East Oil Mill purchased a new
truck scale to keep up with the growth of
the business. The new scale is longer so