PUMPS, VALVES & ACTUATORS QUICK CHANGE FLAVOUR
+SUCCESS
SOLUTIONS
D
evon-based Moo Free Ltd is taking advantage of a 530 series process pump from Watson-Marlow Fluid Technology Group (WMFTG) to optimise the manufacture of dairy-free, gluten- free vegan and organic chocolate products. Acquired as part of a production process redesign, the 530 pump is helping the company to reduce the time required for flavour changeovers from half a day to just five minutes. Moo Free’s multiple award-winning products are intended to taste
no different from their dairy counterparts. At the heart of Moo Free’s factory in Holsworthy is the moulding line, where the company’s various flavours of chocolate are shaped into bars and other products. Until recently, the company relied on 14 individual 400kg tanks filled with chocolate. The required percentage of flavouring would then be added to each tank, before being wheeled to another location for tempering and mixing. Chocolate at Moo Free is produced in three tonne batches and
pumped into a large stainless-steel holding tank from where (until recently) it was transferred into the 400kg tanks ready for individual flavouring. “By investing in a peristaltic process pump from WMFTG to dose the
flavours, we conceived a way of transferring the chocolate directly from the holding tank to the moulding line,” said Simon March, engineering manager. “This move has reduced labour and space requirements, and eliminated the need for the 400kg tanks, some of which have already been sold to more than cover the cost of the new pump. Importantly, the whole process has been simplified and is now more efficient.” March commissioned the manufacture of a small stainless-steel
hopper which sits above the Watson-Marlow 530UN/R2 pump to provide gravity feed for the flavouring. After a tempering process, the chocolate passes through a mixing screw and into another hopper - the turning of the screw provides the auxiliary signal for the dosing pump to introduce the flavouring (via a drive relay). The chocolate is mixed again before it ends up in a bar on the moulding line. Fully operational over a double shift (16 hours a day), the pump has
proven 100% reliable since its installation in February 2020, dosing at a flow rate of 5-55mg/min from its location next to the moulding line. Moo Free takes advantage of the 520R pumphead for continuous tubing with runs on a 530 series pumps using Watson-Marlow's Marprene long life process tubing (4.8mm diameter bore). Flavour changes are reasonably frequent at Moo Free, sometimes
occurring twice a day, and it is here that the 530UN/R2 pump has delivered the biggest gains. “Changing flavours is now a super easy job - I just use different
Marprene tubing for different flavours,” stated March. “We simply change the tube, empty and clean the hopper, fill it back up with another flavour and we’re ready to go again in about five minutes.”
Watson-Marlow Fluid Technology Group
www.wmftg.com
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