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CONVEYING EQUIPMENT ENHANCING SAFETY AND EFFICIENCY


just one hour – about 10% of the time it took us previously when the process was manual,” stated Berko. “As well as improving food safety, this has translated into an uplift in our production capacity as changeover of the delivery system is achieved in a fraction of the time required on our other production lines, minimising downtime. By removing a manual process, it has also resulted in labour savings.” The conveyor itself comprises a fixed drive


TruFood produces millions of nutrition bars each week


Luxme International has supplied a SANILux Tubular Chain Conveyor with automated clean-in-place technology to US-based nutrition bar manufacturer TruFood


experiencing a surge in popularity. The global protein bar market was valued at £3.41bn in 2019 and is projected to reach more than £5bn by 20271


D . Sitting at the heart of this


growth industry is TruFood, which produces millions of nutrition bars each week for its brand partners. TruFood’s products are sold in retail throughout Europe, North America and Mexico, as well as through online distributors. In 2019, increased customer demand


prompted US-based TruFood to embark on an expansion project to boost its manufacturing capabilities. High on the list for improvement was the company’s ingredient delivery system; a multi-step manual process that required time and labour to prepare and transfer fine and coarse ingredient powders and inclusions such as chocolate chunks, soy crisps and cookie pieces to the mixer. Not only did TruFood require an automated ingredient transfer solution that would increase yield and improve line efficiency, but it also needed to guarantee food safety by reducing the risk of allergen cross-contamination between changeovers for different product ranges. Following discussions with several


equipment manufacturers, TruFood was won over by the benefits afforded by the SANILux Tubular Chain Conveyor and Luxme’s problem-solving capabilities. “As well as efficiently transferring screened and weighed powders and inclusions to the mixer, the ability of the SANILux to reduce the time required for a sanitary changeover and remove all allergens from the conveying system were ultimately behind our decision to


5 JUNE 2022 | PROCESS & CONTROL 4


elivering a convenient mixture of high protein, low sugar and essential nutrients, nutrition bars are


partner with Luxme,” said Mike Berko, project engineer, TruFood. “Their willingness to work within our constrained space requirements also impressed us.” As a producer of nutrition bars with a wide


range of certifications and claims – including kosher, non-GMO, organic, halal, gluten-free, fair trade and sugar-free – TruFood takes its commitment to avoiding allergen cross- contamination extremely seriously. Consequently, TruFood faced a variety of


challenges when seeking to upgrade its manufacturing operation. “We work with mid- sized emerging brands as well as established consumer packaged goods (CPG) companies commercialising new product platforms,” explained Berko. “With this comes additional complexity, requiring sophisticated systems to protect and propel their brands. To better support these partners, we not only required more flexible and consistent operations, but also easier, more efficient changeovers and sanitation protocols. Sanitary design and ease of cleaning are forefront in our minds when evaluating any new solution.” The SANILux Tubular Chain Conveyor


technology is an enclosed, self-cleaning system, and protects ingredients from atmospheric, airborne contaminants and other bacterial elements. It maintains a safe and sanitised processing system, reducing the risk of product recall due to cross- contamination. The automated CIP technology ensures the conveyor is fully sanitised in just 60 minutes – unlike competitor offerings which can take multiple shifts – and is validated with allergen swab testing. For TruFood, this has delivered significant benefits: “The SANILux can go from dry to dry, fully allergen sanitised, in


and tension assembly, which automatically tensions the chain continuously during the process and regulates it according to friction, product flow and variation in atmospheric/ product temperature. Capable of 300, 500 or 1,100 ft3


/hr capacities, the system is suited for


the automatic conveying of food, at any stage of receiving, processing and packaging. The SANILux has been running successfully


at TruFood’s manufacturing facility since it was installed in May 2020, just as the Covid-19 pandemic was sweeping the globe. Keen to avoid any impact on the project, the two companies worked together in conjunction with the support of Solid Solutions to ensure successful integration – TruFood’s in-house engineering team completed the installation work, with Luxme carrying out virtual commissioning. Although Luxme’s technicians have experience of performing virtual commissioning for clients previously, this was a step into the unknown for TruFood. “Despite the unique challenges of Covid-19, the installation and commissioning of the new system was a success,” confirmed Berko. Also crucial to the overall success of the


project was ensuring the SANILux could successfully interface with other upstream and downstream equipment on the line. Real- time communication with adjacent batch screening, weighing and mixing equipment is achieved over Ethernet, while a PLC interface receives and sends signals to coordinate operation of the conveyor with both upstream screening and downstream mixer. Running at speeds of 54 feet per minute to optimise process time requirements for multiple


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