For many years, the Vigo Importing Co. of Tampa, FL conveyed cleaned rice from its storage hoppers to the packaging area through a hose-switching station. This setup was both labor-intensive and inefficient because it required a worker to stop production (shut off the blower) in order to disconnect and/or reconnect hoses between two destination lines. However, in April 2004, Vigo replaced the hose-switching station with two Wye Line Diverters from Salina Vortex Corp. Anthony Rizzo, plant manager at Vigo, says the diverters have increased efficiency, while lessening the need for labor and eliminating problems that result from the misconnection of hoses (such as cross-contamination of different product types). The diverters are installed side by side. Each diverter is set up to handle one type of rice (long whole grain or short grain) and move it to three packaging areas, where it is either packed as is or further processed to become a rice mix.