Equipment Briefs: November 2012
Egan Food Technologies’ new slab bar-forming line forms fragile products such as nutritional bars, granola bars, crisp rice bars and cereal bars. Manufactured and serviced by the company’s Michigan location, the unit features stainless components for easy sanitation and thorough washdown. A modular design allows for the addition of toppers, cooling conveyors, pressing rollers, extruders, slitter assemblers and an ultrasonic bar cutter, all of which are available from the company.
Egan Food Technologies
Grand Rapids, Mich.
616-855-1820
Lloyd Pans’ cookie sheets and jelly roll pans are built to last and produce reliable, consistent baking results. Both are manufactured out of heavy-duty aluminum, come in three coating options (bare aluminum, Silver-Kote and Dura-Kote) and are available with open or closed ends and as traditional flat sheets. The company also offers custom pans and sheets.
Lloyd Pans
Spokane Valley, Wash.
800-748-6251
Ishida Atlas 233 bagmakers from Heat and Control are suitable for potato chips and snacks packaged at 80-120 bags per minute. The continuous-motion machine has a single sealing jaw that the company says outperforms intermittent-motion bagmakers. Atlas 233 makes bags from 3-13 in. wide and 5-28 in. long. Standalone or direct-mount models with a single-tube format or nested for twin-tube applications are available.
Heat and Control
Hayward, Calif.
510-259-0500
With incoming carton speeds of up to 400 per min. and bundling speeds of up to 100 bundles per min., the Velocity stacker for cartons and Contour M-50 dual-stream shrink bundler meet customers’ production speeds, while producing bundle counts sized to match shelf restocking quantities. The patented Velocity stacker off-loads stacked cartons, splits them into two pack patterns and delivers the patterns to the Contour M-50 shrink bundler.
Douglas Machine Inc.
Alexandria, Minn.
320-763-6587
Delkor Systems’ newest closure solution, the Delkor Capstone L1-500, incorporates a low-cost, corrugated base tray that provides carton support and a graphic, paperboard carton lid that seals and protects products. The unit adapts to other packages and applications with simple, tool-less changeovers, has a compact footprint and features a hygienic, stainless-steel construction for easy cleaning. It also has an ergonomically designed, low-level pneumatic blank magazine that facilitates easy blank loading.
Delkor Systems
Minneapolis
800-328-5558
The Unifiller Hopper Topper product-transfer system from Unifiller Systems has an optic product sensor that eliminates fluctuating deposit weights. It streamlines and controls raw ingredient costs by ensuring depositing accuracy and consistency. A tilt mechanism makes changing mixing bowls easy, while the Powerlift lowers and raises bowls as needed with the flick of a switch. The unit also has a flow control to adjust pump speed for different types of products.
Unifiller Systems Inc.
Delta, British Columbia
888-733-8444
Charles Ross & Son Co. now offers a variety of surface treatments, coatings and alternative materials in its line of mixing, blending, drying and dispersion equipment for processing high-purity, sensitive, corrosive or abrasive products. Coating options include aluminum oxide, chromium oxide, polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF), nylon, tungsten carbide and black Teflon perfluoroalkoxy copolymer resin (shown). Surface treatments include electropolishing, boronizing and hard chrome plating. The company also manufactures storage tanks, pressure vessels and reactors that can be lined with any appropriate chemical-resistant coating.
Charles Ross & Son Co.
Hauppauge, N.Y.
800-243-7677
Buckhorn Inc. offers a collapsible, recyclable, 60-gal. plastic drum designed specifically for the food-, powder- and liquid-handling markets. The rectangular unit has a 40x24x20-in. footprint and features three main components: A base; sidewalls; and a lid. All parts are designed with offset surfaces and interlocking flanges, so that no cracks exist in the joints, minimizing the potential for contamination. The drum also has two security tie holes per lid. The inside and outside surfaces of the sidewalls are smooth for easy cleaning. The sidewalls are also hinged in the center for a one-way inward fold, allowing the drum to fold flat in seconds.
Buckhorn Inc.
Milford, Ohio
800-543-4454
The MAPAX modified atmosphere packaging (MAP) solution from Linde North America helps extend the shelf life of consumer packaged foods when compared to packaging in air. It works using a combination of food-grade nitrogen, carbon dioxide and/or oxygen. MAPAX can extend the shelf life of cakes from several weeks up to one year and pizza from five to 10 days to two to four weeks. The MAPAX solution includes onsite gas supply and delivery, as well as metering and control systems matched to a plant’s existing food packaging system. Gas can be precisely metered for high-efficiency inerting and preservation of a range of bagged, trayed, canned and bottled products, from potato chips to nuts.
Linde North America Inc.
Murray Hill, N.J.
800-755-9277
Ensinger Inc. develops a high-performance engineering plastic for the food industry. Designed to increase productivity and safety, TECAFORM UD Blue addresses three methods of quality control (optical, metal and X-ray detection) typically used in the industry to keep food products free from foreign particulates. The product is a porosity-free acetal copolymer in a Food and Drug Administration-compliant blue. TECAFORM UD Blue is compliant with FDA, U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), 3A Dairy and European agency standards.
Ensinger Inc.
Washington, Pa.
800-243-3221
The Bag Gripper from FIPA Inc. handles unstable, bag-type containers and shrink-wrapped packages. A special version of the company’s Vacuum Gripper, the device features a contamination-resistant design that reduces downtime due to dusty products, suction mats that can be replaced quickly and easily and integrated high-performance ejectors for optimal suction power. FIPA side-channel blowers are also available to handle highly porous products. In addition, the Bag Gripper can be used for many different handling solutions by splitting the vacuum chambers and adjusting chamber depths. It is compatible with FIPA’s Modular System and can also be used with third-party systems.
FIPA Inc.
Cary, N.C.
919-651-9888
Hinds-Bock transfer pumps are available in many sizes and configurations to move hot or cold flowable liquid products and mixtures from mixing, holding or cooking vessels to filling machines. They come in three sizes (64-, 128- and 250-oz. per stroke), pump from 7-14 gal. per minute and can handle large, soft chunks and particulates without bridging or crushing. In addition, they can be used to pump a broad range of products with delicate particulates, including fruit cake and blueberry muffin batters.
Hinds-Bock Corp.
Seattle
877-292-5715
SHOPCraft plastic bread trays from Schaumburg Specialties carry delicate baked goods, transport heavy loads without sagging, stack easily without damaging contents and let product packaging show. Available in a variety of colors, the trays are easy to clean and have smooth surfaces that won’t snag packaging. When empty, they nest deeply to minimize storage space. They can be used for manual loading or for use with automated loading equipment.
Schaumburg Specialties
Franklin Park, Ill.
800-834-8125
H.B. Fuller announces two advances for the Liquamelt adhesive system—a bulk feed option that eliminates the need for staff to refill the adhesive reservoir and a gateway I/O option that allows the system’s operation to be monitored by the packaging machine control system. The bulk containers come in 30- and 50-gal. drums and a 2,500-lb. tote, which delivers room-temperature liquid adhesive from a variety of package options to the Liquamelt application equipment reservoir. The gateway I/O option enables external communication and provides machine health status. It allows OEM equipment to monitor the Liquamelt adhesive system to ensure efficient and reliable line operation.
H.B. Fuller Co.
St. Paul, Minn.
651-253-7437
Mepaco’s T4000 combo dumper has a sanitary design and is easy to operate and maintain. In addition to its heavy-duty, stainless-steel construction, the model has a hold-down mechanism for products that arrive in palletized combs with liners. The mechanism automatically secures the liner and helps prevent foreign debris from entering the product stream during the dump cycle. The T4000 lifts vats, combos and tubs and has a 3,000-lb. capacity with discharge heights of up to 82 in.
Mepaco
Beaver Dam, Wis.
920-356-9900
Spee-Dee Packaging Machinery’s sanitary servo-drive auger filler helps prevent product corruption from outside sources by preventing contaminants from coming into contact with the material being filled. To that end, all of the unit’s mechanical connections are outside the product contact area; the surfaces under or adjacent to the driving mechanism are readily accessible; the agitator blade and auger driveshaft can be easily removed for inspection and cleaning; and all permanent, metal joints that come into contact with product contact surfaces are continuously welded. All product contact surfaces are made from stainless steel for easy maintenance and to resist corrosion.
Spee-Dee Packaging Machinery Inc.
Sturtevant, Wis.
877-375-2121
ThermoPod introduces ThermoKeeper insulated box liners for mail-order baked goods, chocolate and other temperature-sensitive products. Made with ASTM-tested and certified biodegradable components, the liners fit snuggly into a protective, corrugated outer box, offering an alternative to foam-lined coolers and other nonbiodegradable shipping containers. ThermoKeeper’s outer surface is a biodegradable, water-resistant film, while its inner surface is a biodegradable, perforated film. A proprietary, ultra-insulating, biodegradable padding made from a blend of recycled cotton and wool textile fibers is sandwiched between the two films.
ThermoPod
Norfolk, Neb.
888-379-9695
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