Through proper design and maintenance, bulk materials handling operations can run cleanly, safely, and efficiently.

Martin Engineering is the first and foremost promoter of improving bulk material handling by upgrading equipment design and maintenance practices. Martin Engineering emphasizes this position in what is termed its THINK CLEAN ® Philosophy. The basis of this philosophy is that bulk material handling systems and products should be:

• Engineered to withstand operations with the material in its worst state.
• Designed to require minimal maintenance.
• Designed for ease of service so that maintenance, when required, can be performed as a routine procedure by relatively untrained personnel.
• Engineered so that clean operations will pay back the cost of the improved system many times over.

The key ingredient in improving plant operations through cleanliness is not so much the installation of any new equipment. The critical element is a commitment on the part of plant management and staff to install, operate, and maintain clean systems. Each group needs to do everything in its power to make sure that “durt” is not accepted as an inevitable occurrence. Management and staff alike need to THINK CLEAN ®.

This philosophy is epitomized by TC, Martin Engineering’s “durt-fighting” corporate character.

So who is TC anyhow?

Like Pillsbury’s Doughboy™ or the Keebler ® Elves, TC is a corporate character, a cartoon that symbolizes a company’s mission, philosophy, or other attributes. The name TC was selected as a shortened form of THINK CLEAN ®, Martin Engineering’s philosophy for improving material handling.

But unlike those other corporate characters, TC is modeled after a real person, an individual who played an essential role both in helping industry to improve its standards for belt cleaning, and in helping Martin Engineering develop its philosophy and products.

The model for TC is Dick Stahura. More formally, Richard P. Stahura Sr., Dick is recognized around the world as the pioneer and leader in the search for practical and effective methods to clean and seal belt conveyor systems. For nearly 40 years, Dick Stahura has circled the globe for Martin Engineering, searching for “durt” and spreading the gospel of proper conveyor system design.

During his calls on conveyor system engineers and end users, Dick would leave notes and sketches, all signed with a quick self-portrait. This self-portrait became the basis for the character now known as TC.

And what is “durt”? “Durt” is Dick Stahura’s coined word for fugitive material that escapes from a material handling system. It is not to be confused with dirt, the everyday word for soil. Arising as carryback, spillage or dust, “durt” increases cleanup and maintenance expense, shortens equipment life, and otherwise damages an operation’s bottom line.