When a driver hits a dome, the dome hits back.

First in, first out bins surround the central unloading area at this Monolithic Dome blending plant. Unlike rectangular wood storages, there are no long hallways nor multiple roundtrips from bin to scale. A small skid loader pivots quickly from bin to scale with minimal travel.

The dome and bin walls are steel-reinforced, spray-in-place shotcrete — a high-density concrete. Loaders can‘t poke holes in the walls — like they can with wood walls — nor can they create hollow spaces for product to collect.

And when a loader strikes a shotcrete wall, the driver gets quite a jolt.

One fertilizer plant built a large, free-span Monolithic Dome storage next to their old wood facility. Large front-end loaders retrieved product from both buildings. The supervisors put new drivers in the dome. After being knocked around a few times, the drivers quickly learn how to avoid the dome wall. Only then would they be allowed in the wood building.