Moving food products from point to point during processing is both essential and unavoidable.
. Conveyor belt systems make up the most important part of all installations in the food industry. Needless to say, the efficiency and sustainability of such conveyor systems is a big concern to all stakeholders in this industry as well as the State Agencies concerned.
While the manufacturers look into efficiency and sustainability as a means to cut down on production costs and increase bottom-lines, Federal and State agencies are more concerned with general energy efficiency and waste reduction with regards to impacts on the environment. It is a win-win situation that has encouraged the development of conveyor belt systems and conveyor belt scales that promote the sustainability of various industrial operations.
1. Good Hygienic Design
A good design of the conveyors that positively promotes hygiene is going to ensure that only the highest levels of food safety are maintained. This will no doubt provide economic benefits by the mere fact that it is going to guarantee the production of high quality products. The production of high quality food products is basically self-sustainable when it comes to acceptance by the consumers.
2. Ability to be Cleaned Easily
Conveyor systems in the food industry need to be constantly cleaned for obvious reasons. If they are designed in such a way as to facilitate cleaning, and easy cleaning at that, then this will be another feature that is going to help maintain sustainable operations in this industry.
The cleaning of conveyor belt systems can be done using either the automated Cleaning-in-place features or manually. Those systems that are easy to disassemble and reassemble without the need for tools make it even easier for the components to be thoroughly cleaned.
3. Non-Fray Fabric Conveyor Belts
When it comes to the fabric conveyor belts, the ideal surface is generally smooth and homogeneous, and thus easy to clean. The no-fray or fray less fabric conveyors are ideal for the food industry since they minimize fiber contamination on the food products being conveyed. Quality can be adversely affected due to such contaminations; the end result being losses.
4. The Belt Scale
Having a belt scale along the conveyor system provides an excellent way of maintaining and monitoring accurate flow rates of materials and products. The best conveyor scales need to be accurate, dependable and also capable of repeatable operations day in and day out. With such features, wastage is kept at bay and overall production costs down.
5. Easy to Access Conveyor Belt Scales
With quick and efficient means to access the conveyor belt scales, scheduled and unscheduled maintenance and calibrations exercises for these readers will be carried out without major snarl-ups on general production. Any time that is saved during all manufacturing processes usually translates to savings in terms of resources.
6. Constructed using Quality Materials
Generally, the stainless steels provide exceptional corrosion resistance. This is one of the reasons why it is used widely in the food industry. The selection of the right grade of stainless steel for a food production conveyor system will largely depend on the intended use among other considerations. Bottom line here is that a conveyor system constructed with good quality materials will be both efficient and durable.
7. Energy Efficient
Being energy efficient is not only good for manufacturers, but also for the environment. There are those conveyor systems with energy efficiency features, such as the gravity feed that make use of the force of gravity to substitute their power at convenient points.
There are also other measures that if well implemented, can result in even more energy efficiency. Things like selecting the right size for your factory, switching the system off when not in use, ensuring that it is kept well maintained for optimum efficiency and upgrading where necessary, are all going to help save energy.
Benefits of Conveyor Belt Systems in the Food Industry
- Reduced Errors hence Increased Productivity
With the automation of product and material movement, not only is more of it moved round, but it is also done efficiently. With the inclusion of the conveyor scales that monitor the weights of materials and products during production, errors in ingredient quantities and package weights are virtually eliminated.
- Sustainably Sanitary
There are those conveyors specifically designed to recycle excess products, such as toppings in food production, an example being the pneumatic conveying system. These evidently reduce waste and hence facilitate great economic returns to the manufacturers.
- Easy to Setup plus Improved Safety in Operations.
Conveyor systems can be purchased and easily installed where needed. Some can actually be installed by the owners themselves and that makes the whole exercise a lot easier on the pocket. Complete automations of the conveyance process means that there will be less human contact and even lesser risk of accidents.