Cover Story - Advertising Feature
Output goes nuts Nut Butter output increases five-fold with bulk bag unloaders and flexible
screw conveyors from Flexicon
MaraNatha Nut Butters was founded in 1982 in Ashland, OR, U.S.A. when the husband and wife team of Robert and Chris Plotnik began delivering dried fruit from the California Central Valley to natural food stores in Oregon and Washington. As the distribution company grew, the family began producing its own specialty peanut and nut butters under the MaraNatha label. As the line grew in popularity, the Plotniks concentrated on manufacturing nut butters and today, MaraNatha is a leading manufacturer of organic and natural nut and seed butters. As demand for the all-natural almond, peanut, cashew and macadamia and sesame tahini butters escalated, the company boosted output by increasing production rates and, as importantly, by reducing downtime between batches.
Limitations of the existing system
The company was using bucket-style conveyors to move peanuts, almonds, cashews and sesame seeds to various production areas throughout the plant. Using this equipment had two drawbacks: • Cleaning was time consuming • System was too slow to meet demand.
They were filling just 20 to 30 jars per minute with the bucket- style conveyors and they required two hours to clean between production runs because there were hundreds of buckets attached to a chain, all of which had to be disassembled and cleaned between products. The need to reduce sanitation time and get more throughput out of the equipment necessitated installation of an entirely new bulk handling system. Everything manufactured is a Class 1 allergen and all direct- contact equipment must be cleaned thoroughly - but as swiftly as possible. MaraNatha then decided to go with a system of bulk bag unloaders and flexible screw conveyors from Flexicon because the flexible screw conveyors require less time to disassemble, clean, sanitise and reassemble between different product runs.
ABOVE: In the roasting room, bulk bag discharger empties almonds into hopper as a flexible screw conveyor transports them to the roaster. A Power-Cincher flow control valve cinches the bag spout concentrically, allowing leakproof retying of partially empty bags
Replacement equipment cuts downtime, boosts production The installed system includes five, model BFC bulk bag unloaders and flexible screw conveyors. Although each piece of equipment is not dedicated to a particular product, individual bulk bag unloaders are associated with a flexible screw conveyor that transports work in progress or raw materials to various rooms within the plant. Two 4.6 m long flexible screw conveyors featuring stainless steel tubes were installed in the roasting areas to convey raw products, such as nuts and sesame seeds, to the roasters. Stainless steel outer tubes (as opposed to plastic) in the roasting rooms were preferred because of the ambient heat.
8 Solids & Bulk Handling • August 2010
Three conveyors are used in other areas. One 4.6 m long unit
www.solidsandbulk.co.uk
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