CONVEYOR BELTS


Plastic belt provided a key


to achieving cost savings


Find out how one UK bakery has saved £10k and 69 hours of labour annually by overcoming costly maintenance and sanitation procedures by replacing its conveyor belt.


T


he production process for a savoury pasty line at a UK-based bakery involves raw pastry being passed through a machine on a conveyor, before being glazed with egg wash and


then being transported to ovens for baking. Because the original wire belt on the machine could not be removed to allow for deep cleaning, lengthy and costly manual cleaning needed to be undertaken with the belt in situ. Due to the design of the wire belt, it was also susceptible to damage during cleaning operations, which incurred the need for regular and costly belt repair and replacement, leading to even further costly production line downtimes.


It was also recognised that metal belts such as this are considered a potential cause of product contamination and therefore were not the ideal solution for this particular application. With this in mind the bakery set out to find a better solution, one which would reduce contamination risks and reduce the need for maintenance and speed up cleaning


times of the processing belt. The bakery wanted a more robust belt solution that would be easier to clean.


The solution was found with HabasitLINK M1885 Flush Grid belt. The open grid design of the belt lent itself well to this particular application as the egg glaze was able to pass over the product and drain through the belt with ease, reducing product accumulation.


Accelerated cleaning operation To accelerate the cleaning processes, the addition of Habasit Saniclip enabled an easy-release rod retention system with a safe, non-slip surface even in the wet and greasy environment encountered by this application. Requiring just seconds to extract and re-install, this tool-free quick belt opening feature enabled fast and easy removal and replacement of the belt, which helped to significantly reduce downtimes for both cleaning and maintenance.


The plastic design of the belt also ensured a much lower risk of the harmful product contamination that had been associated with the previous metal belt, thus improving production safety. The belt also enabled


12 Kennedy’s Bakery Production August/September 2024


mechanical recovery and the replacement of sections of the belt rather than full replacement, increasing belt life and reducing maintenance and replacement costs. The customer retrofitted the HabasitLINK Flush Grid belt to all six of its processing machines. The benefits it has encountered from doing so include an increased belt life which has reduced the need for belt replacements. Previously each of the six lines required belt replacement three times per year. With the new plastic belt this has been this reduced to just one replacement per year. The bakery also reports that maintenance and labour times have reduced eight-fold. The previously used wire belt took two hours to re-fit. With the new modular plastic belting this re-fit time has been reduced to just 15 minutes. In total the bakery reports savings of £10,050 per annum. It also cites 69 saved labour hours per annum. Reduced downtimes due to the difficult cleaning operation and regular belt replacements have also enabled the lines to become more productive.


bakeryproduction.co.uk


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