As the popularity of flexible packaging increases, food manufacturers are looking for ways to increase the speed and efficiency of their lines while remaining cost-effective.
Multi-Conveyor, a leading manufacturer of pre-engineered and uniquely designed conveyor solutions, recently created an economically friendly solution that consists of a series of stainless steel, multi-sanitation level, flexible packaging food bag conveyors.
“[As part of] a new economical trend, customers [are] choosing higher level sanitary ground and polished welded conveyor construction only where necessary,” said Cheryl Miller, director of marketing for Multi-Conveyor, in an exclusive statement to Packaging OEM. “They complete their line with lower sanitation level constructed conveyors through to the case packaging and palletizing areas, significantly reducing their overall project cost.”
By offering an adaptable solution, Multi-Conveyor’s system can transition between automated and hand packing processes, allowing manufacturers to adapt to varying production needs while maintaining cost efficiency.
How does it work?
Starting at a customer’s case erector, empty cases begin on the stainless-steel bolted construction conveyors. These cases travel through two 90-degree curves where they join a sanitary constructed slave driven food-grade conveyor system.
Bagged food is then manually placed on a hygienically constructed transport conveyor that transports from a separate washdown area. Bags then travel through a wall to a case packing room.
Fixed plow rails guide the bags off an adjustable chute to the manual case packing conveyor. A separate conveyor takes the full cases to a scale and then to the customers’ palletizers.
Core attributes
The initial food-grade system includes welded stand-offs for guide rail brackets, bearings, and floor supports, and no exposed threads are shown. Additionally, it includes welded frame spacers, removable wear strips, continuous welds, and 7GA frames, all of which are cleaned and passivated for enhanced hygiene and durability.
While the case pack conveyor is constructed of stainless steel, it utilizes a more cost-effective, minimized sanitation level design, requiring only bolted frame spacers, wear strips, and continuous welds.
The manual case-loading station incorporates pneumatic clamps to stabilize cases during the loading process.
Multi-Conveyor’s products have been deployed in consumer-packaged goods, automation and robotics, by OEMs, and more. To learn more about the company, click here.
