TANDOU COTTON GIN

Tandou Cotton Gin
POSITION DESCRIPTION:
PRESS OPERATOR CG-1
The Press Operator is primarily responsible for operating and tending to the bale press and processed
bales. The role of the Press Operator is to support the Shift Supervisor by executing the tasks asked of
them during their shift.
These tasks are discretionary to the Shift Supervisor and the Gin Manager and relate to the effective and
efficient operation of the Tandou Cotton Gin. Job training will be provided for all tasks allocated.
The Operator reports directly to the Shift Supervisor and the Gin Manager.
KEY ATTRIBUTES:
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Computer literate
Mechanical aptitude
Hard working
Reliable
Punctual
Motivated
Enthusiastic
Numerical Skills
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Good command of English language
Self-driven
Flexible and open to change
Shows Initiative
Responds to direction
Respects others
Trustworthy
Positive
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES:
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Start, operate and monitor the computerised bale press.
Monitor the bale removal process.
Remove cotton samples from each bale, tagging and recording module details to set quality
standards.
Prepare cotton samples for transport (tie with string, label and complete paperwork).
Load cotton samples in vehicle.
Preparing bale tags & bale bags.
Place bales in bags.
Tagging bale bags.
Preparing and removing processed bales out of the gin.
Obtain cotton seed samples when required.
Undertake daily equipment checks.
Replace bags, tags and twine to ensure there is enough stock for the next shift.
Make sure the press area is kept tidy at all times including the Press Pit, Tramper, Pusher, Strap and
Bag area, Battery Condenser and Steam Roller.
Ensure the gin floor is clean at all times.
Clean other areas within the gin as instructed by the Shift Supervisor.
Relieve other positions in the gin when required (Job training will be provided for all tasks allocated).
The role of an Operator, their tasks and responsibilities are discretionary, and will remain flexible to
the needs of the Shift Supervisor, the Cotton Gin Manager and the Tandou Cotton Gin.
To support and implement the initiatives of the Shift Supervisor and Gin Manager.
Tandou Cotton Gin
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To efficiently complete tasks undertaken to ensure optimal results.
To know, understand and work within the policies relating to a healthy and safe working environment,
including work practices.
To seek knowledge and or ask questions of others when unsure how to carry out a task, including the
operation of machinery.
To be punctual around start and break times, and flexible around finish times where required.
To promptly communicate re: sickness or un-availability.
Attend, support and actively participate in any relevant training ie: OH&S, Machinery Operation, etc.
To support and comply with the laws, regulations, industry codes and organisational standards that
applies to Tandou Ltd and the Tandou Cotton Gin, including the Conditions for Employment.
To be flexible with days and hours worked.
Demonstrates exemplary personal behaviours and role models expectations while working within the
Vision for the Tandou Cotton Gin.
OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH AND SAFETY RESPONSIBILITIES:
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The Press Operator must work within cotton gin and Occupational Health and Safety rules.
A Press Operator must, while at work, take reasonable care for the health and safety of people who
are at the employee’s place of work and who may be affected by the employee’s acts or omissions at
work.
An Operator must, while at work, co-operate with his or her employer or other person so far as is
necessary to enable compliance with any requirements under the Occupational Health and Safety Act
or the regulations that are imposed in the interests of health, safety and welfare on the employer or
any other person.
Assist in Identifying hazards or potential hazards.
In the event of a fire, act under direction of the Gin Supervisor or Gin Manager.
ASSESSMENT:
The role of the Press Operator, their tasks and responsibilities are discretionary, and will remain flexible to
the needs of the Shift Supervisor, the Cotton Gin Manager and the Tandou Cotton Gin.
The Press Operators role will be assessed continually throughout the season on an informal basis.
Tandou Cotton Gin
Cotton bale press
Tandou Cotton Gin
Finished cotton bales
Tandou Cotton Gin Details for season 2015
Start: Anticipated to be 4th May for induction and training week followed by full shifts
commencing Monday 11th May.
End: Mid-August
Roster: working 10 days on 4 days off (Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday), Day 7am-7pm
and night 7pm-7am, 12 hours each shift in 2 week cycle.
Pay Rates: Flat casual rate adjusted to meet Cotton Ginning Award rates.
Module Bay Operators, Press Operators, Cleaner and Roving Roles are paid at CG-1 = approx.
$25.50 per hour TBC, half hour unpaid lunch break plus other paid breaks when possible.
(Nightshift has a paid meal break).
Accommodation: Supplied free of charge, fully self-contained cabin. Self-catering. Only
bedding/towels and food required. Cabins to be kept clean and tidy at all times. A tenancy
agreement will be signed by each occupant and final pay may be withheld pending inspection
of cabin prior to leaving.
Vehicles: Travel from the workers camp to the cotton gin supplied in Tandou.
Vehicles: Own vehicle required for allocated time off to re stock food and other needs.
Nearest Towns: Menindee 50kms (basic needs), Broken Hill 130Kms (all amenities), Mildura
260 kms (all amenities).
Clothing and PPE: Workers must supply their own hi Vis long sleeve shirts, hat, water bottle and
steel capped boots. Tandou provides safety glasses, hearing protection, sunscreen and hard
hats where required.
Tandou Cotton Gin
Cotton bale press
Tandou Cotton Gin
Finished cotton bales
Welcome to Tandou Cotton Gin
The Gin is a processing plant that processes raw picked cotton delivered in 2400Kg
round bales. It then removes the seed, trash and dirt before baling into 227Kg bales
ready for sale to merchants/spinners.
A raw round bale contains 40% cotton lint fibre, 52% seed and 8% trash.
Tandou Gin is a 2 stand gin capable of processing 500-600 finished bales/24hrs
Gin Manager – Roger McLean
Gin Administration Officer – Julia Martino
Gin Supervisors – Mark Follon, Jake Nation, Steve Jessett, Dave McTiernan
We Hope you enjoy your visit and ask kindly that you adhere to the following:
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Please wear the protective equipment supplied.
Always stay with your tour leader, do not wander off.
Stay within designated areas (behind yellow lines)
Keep hands away from any machines.
OVERVIEW OF TYPICAL GINNING PROCESS
Separator
Incline clean
+ Stick machine
Readi feed
Tower drier
Battery Condenser
Inclines
Drier
Stick
+ humidifier
Gins
Press
Machine
From paddock
To product
Process Description
The loading bay is filled with round modules with a loader and plastic removed.
The readi feeder works its way along the tracks from one end to the other and is loaded from both
ends ensuring continuous feed. The spiked drums tear the modules apart and transfers the cotton
out onto the conveyor belt, which runs down to the newly installed hot box which is set at approx.
40-50 degrees C. The heat source comes from the old Pima transfer station burner.
Figure 1: Readi feeder and conveyor belt
The cotton is sucked up through the duct work into the separator. The heavier materials such as old
pods, stone etc get separated before entering the main section of the separator and are sent out to
trash. The cotton drops down into the feed box (storage for gin saws).
Figure 2: Separator above storage hopper box
Then moves its way to tower drier no 1 which is heated at approx. 30-60 degrees C then goes to
incline no 2 which has teeth dispersers and is a cleaning process. The cotton runs through the
dispersers and trash falls through grid bars along the bottom of the machine and sent into trash
system.
Figure 3: Tower drier and incline cleaner
Cotton then goes to stick machine no 2 were sticks, twigs and old bowls get separated through
channel saws and brushes and the trash is sent into trash system. This machine may be bypassed if
cotton quality is good.
Figure 4: Stick machine
Next is tower drier no 2 the 3rd stage of heating if required. The tower is made up of stainless steel
levels were the air is heated to 30-60 degrees C, the cotton passes through 12 levels and is dried as
it goes through each level.
Cotton is then transferred to incline no 2 which does the same job as no 1 incline. Cotton then goes
to gravity cleaner were it has a similar clean process the trash goes through grid bars at the bottom
of machine where an auger transfers trash into the overhead pre cleaner trash auger.
Cotton then moves onto another stick machine (no1) where cotton is cleaned again from remaining
twigs and leaf matter, this machine can also be by passed if cotton quality is good. Cotton is then
transferred to conveyor distributor.
Cotton then enters into the saw gins were the seed is separated from the cotton. This process uses
circular saw blades and rib system were the saw grabs the cotton and pulls it through the ribs were
is separates the seed. The seed conveyor transfers the seed to a vacuum which is pushed by air to
the seed shed through duct work. Excess cotton flow is stored in the overflow box were it can be
transferred back to saw gins ensuring they have a constant supply of cotton.
Figure 5: Gin stand
Cotton seed
The lint cotton is then sent to the lint cleaners via transitions.
The cotton is rolled around the outside of a drum were vacuum holds the cotton onto it and then
goes through a series of rollers were it forms a flat bat, the short staple is separated with any excess
trash. Precision saws and knife arrangement determines the usable cotton and short staple.
Figure 6: Lint cleaner
Cotton then goes to the battery condenser via duct work. Cotton rotates around a drum and
through rollers to form a flat bat, then exits via a Shute to the steam roller. The steam roller is
linked to a Humidaire system were steam is injected into the drum putting moisture back into the
cotton to lift moisture content to 8%. Cotton exits down the lint slide to the press
Figure 7: Battery Condenser
The press tramper compressors the cotton into a press box until it reaches a set pressure, then
rotates to the pusher stage were the cotton is formed into a bale the tramper continues to start the
next bale while the other bale is being processed enabling continuous production. The first bale
meanwhile will be strapped and a sample is cut from the bale. The bale is then weighed, bagged and
tagged via a conveyor system. The bale leaves the shed and is transferred to the bale yard.
Figure 8: Bale press
Figure 9: Bales conveyor and bagging
Figure 10: Finished bales in yard
Figure 11: Finished bales in yard
Figure 12: Loading finished bales
Tandou Farm Overview
• Established in 1972 and first grew cotton in 1990 at which time it was the most southerly
cotton grower in Australia.
• Cropping occurs on the uniform, deep, self-mulching soils of the dried lakebed of Lake
Tandou.
• Located below the Menindee Lakes which act as storages for the connected Murray Darling
river system.
• Maximum cotton area to date is 7,600ha in 2012/13.
• Maximum cereal area to date in a cotton system is 4,100ha in 2012.
• Focus on cotton production with cereal crops serving as rotations for cotton, have also
grown sorghum, sunflower and vetch.
Tandou Farm as seen from space. This
picture was taken recently by Astronaut
Chris Hadfield and shows Tandou Farms
proximity to the Menindee Lakes System
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Tandou Farm Overview
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14 houses on farm, 4 houses at sunset strip (~60km)
Other staff have own accommodation in Menindee (~50km)
30 self contained units at Farm Quarters
40 single room style accommodation with shared kitchen, dinning and showers facilities. This
accommodation is required in periods of high activity (harvest and ginning) and is used almost
exclusively to house contractor staff
Workshop onsite to meet all farm and gin requirements
Cotton gin with capacity of 600 bales per day
Gin is also equipped to process Pima cotton (one of three in Australia)
Tandou Farm Overview
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Assets
• Tandou Farm is relatively “self reliant” with many facilities located on farm.
• Tandou has experienced, competent staff in key positions.
• On-farm gin processing reduces transport costs from fields, allows tighter control and no
delays in ginning waiting for other customers to have cotton ginned.
• An extensive workshop is located on farm to provide timely and efficient maintenance.
• On-farm storage of cereal grain in enclosed silos, sheds and bunkers allows flexibility with
sales and delivery whilst maintaining seed quality.
• Tandou Farm and Tandou Gin are myBMP certified
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Scale
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Tandou farms fields are generally larger than traditional cotton farms. Many fields are 300400 hectares in size which can be around five times bigger than average fields on
comparable farms. This allows for efficiency in machinery operations. Soils are uniform.
Very few individual farms have 13,380 ha of irrigation and rely on aggregation to achieve
this area
Tandou Farm
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Water
• Tandou Farm is located below the Menindee Lakes which act as storages (2000 GL) for the
connected Murray Darling river system.
• Tandou Farm grows crops when returns outperforms selling water allocations
• Water security in the Menindee Lakes allows crop planning and forward sales three years in
advance.
• Water delivered on farm by gravity from Menindee Lakes via the Cawndilla outlet, with
water taking approximately 2 days to reach the farm “gate”. Gravity supply = cheap supply
with no pumping cost’s
• Tandou Farm has no on farm water storages but can carry water over in the Menindee
Lakes. Off farm storage lakes of 110 GL capacity can be used and allow equivalent carry over
• Effective low cost irrigation is provided by 24 inch siphons mounted on tractors. These
siphons provide large flows (up to 20 ML/day) that is suited to the relatively flat gradients
of the fields.
• Pumping is minimal, with only excess irrigation and rain runoff been pumped by tailwater
pumps to be recycled as irrigation water.
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Tandou Farm
This map shows the
channels that convey
irrigation water to
Tandou Farm.
• The Cawndilla
Channel conveys
water by gravity
from Lake
Cawndilla to
Tandou Farm
• The Pinnelco
Channel conveys
water from a
pump site on the
Darling River to
Tandou Farm
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Tandou Farm
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Crops
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In recent years Tandou Farm has predominately grown
cotton. Up until 2012 this consisted of a combination of
Upland varieties (regular cotton grown in Australia) and
Pima varieties (fine Egyptian cotton).
Upland cotton is genetically modified to provide
resistance from roundup herbicide sprays and protection
against the major cotton pest, the Helicoverpa
caterpillar.
The hot and dry climate is suitable for cotton production
and our isolated location protects us from pest and
disease outbreaks.
The predominant limiting factor influencing the
maximum area that is planted to cotton is the ability to
water the crop in a 9 day cycle.
Pima cotton has been removed from production as
research and development have not kept up to that of
Upland cotton. This has made Upland cotton easer to
manage, more WHS compliant, more environmentally
friendly and more profitable.
Full Cropping 2013/14
Tandou Farm
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Cotton is selected as the major crop due to its high returns per hectare and megalitre of water. It is
well suited to the soil type and climate.
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The reduction in the number
of bales produced in 2014 was
due to a reduced average
yield.
The forecast reduction in the
number of bales to be
produced in 2015 is due to
reduced area resulting from
limited water availability
Tandou Farm
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Cereal crops are grown during periods of low water prices and provides a profitable rotation to cotton. In
recent years durum wheat has been the main cereal crop with the product sold directly to San Remo for pasta.
Tandou Farm is able to provide San Remo with a quality product as the use of irrigation ensures strong yields
and protein. Tandou Farm has the ability to store 30, 000 tonnes of grain in sheds, bunkers and silos.
There were no cereal crops planted in 2014 due to water economics and availability – all water was saved for
the cotton crop planted Sept-Oct 2014.
Minimum Area 3,500ha
from available water in the
Menindee System
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Tandou Farm
Ginning
 Annual Output
 Up to 70,000 cotton bales
 20,000 tonnes of cotton seed
 Daily capacity of up to 600 bales
 Operates 24 hours/day, 140 days/year
 A combination Saw and Roller gin
processing both Upland and Pima
cotton
 Cotton myBMP certified gin
 Reputation for high quality ginning
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Tandou Farm
Ginning
Average Bales Ginned Per Day
600
544
453
500
517
359
400
300
224
200
100
0
2011
11
2012
2013 Pre 2013 Post
Hopper
Hopper
additions additions
2014