Having Kobold Instrumentation’s suite of offerings included in its range of products affords JSG Industrial Systems the ability to offer solutions to every part of the industry. Adam McCleery writes.
The John Sample Group operates in numerous countries across the globe.
The Australian business, JSG Industrial Systems represents Kobold Australia which sells and supports the Kobold portfolio whilst lending expertise and aid across other international subsidiaries, including New Zealand, Indonesia and South Africa. It is therefore in an ideal position to help the food and beverage industry.
Instrumentation plays a critical role in so many applications and processes in food and beverage manufacturing. The companies which create and supply the technology required therefore need to be full abreast of what is going on in the industry.
Kobold’s key sales advantage is the ability to offer a full suite of instrumentation devices unrivalled in many sectors, JSG Industrial Systems is a company that requires in-house expertise to meet the various requirements of its clients.
“When we talk about instrumentation, that can be anything from a flow measurement device through to a level switch or a display,” said James Slowgrove, product manager – Flow & Instrumentation at JSG Industrial Systems.
“A lot of manufacturers all focus on one area; flow measurement of water or pressure monitoring in heavy industrial applications, Kobold does all of them.
“It’s a real one stop shop for all these different instrumentation devices so their range is almost endless as a result.”
As an example, Slowgrove continued, when a client contacts JSG about instrumentation, JGS’s team provide the required expertise to not just answer any query, but also present a range of other viable, and in some cases, better solutions.
“Case in point, as the technical product manager I might have an inquiry to measure or monitor the flow of water to a baking process,” he said. “Another inquiry may be to fill up a silo with grain and we need to find ways to best measure the amount of grain currently being stored. They go hand in hand but at the same time are very different.”
“As a result, Kobold can provide a solution for installation A and installation B with a different range of products.”
And when it comes to plant machinery Kobold offers a wide range of possible solutions.
“If I were to look at a manufacturing processing facility that makes cordial. If you know your mixture consists of part A of cordial concentrate and part B of water,” said Slowgrove.
“If it’s all automated you will need sensors to ensure you are getting the perfect mix every time to ensure the quality of the product is maintained. If something goes wrong with the line, like running out of water or the temperature goes too high, those devices that alert you are also part of Kobold’s suite of offerings.
Another example Slowgrove gave was in reference to another customer query in 2021.
The client was looking at producing new plastic moulds and were using various renewable plastics in the material makeup.
“They needed to make sure the plastic being pumped into the container was then going to be at the right temperature with the right amount of mixture,” said Slowgrove.
“When you make plastic, you often have three components, your raw material, the catalyst, and you might have a dilution of some sort”.
“In this instance we focused on the plastic line’s raw ingredient and for them to get the correct dosage they needed to make sure the plastic was being heated and maintained at a certain temperature and level.”
Because of this Slowgrove focused immediately on the process when the product enters the warming chamber, as an added element of instrumentation use.
“What happens down the track, especially after it has been batched out from the storage container. How far away until it reaches the next step? 10 cm? Three metres? Have they thought about what is needed to stop the warming chamber from over-filling,” he added.
“One aspect they didn’t think about was measuring the amount of material in a tank. It wasn’t too long until we started to look at level sensors for that heating chamber, this is a bit of insight into what Kobold can do”.
“It swiftly became about the level sensor and temperature probe at the same time.”
This type of expertise and insight is something JSG prides itself on providing the industry.
“There are times customers will contact JSG for flow measurement devices with a certain technology in mind and we look at the application to assess if it is the best fit for the application,” said Slowgrove.
“If it isn’t then we sit down and speak with the client about why”.
“It might not meet the expectations when it comes to accuracy or hygiene. So, if the customer asked for an oval gear meter and we do some digging we might turn around and ask about pressure loss, hygiene requirements, or we might offer a magnetic flow meter to improve accuracy.”
Because of the wide range of solutions offered by Kobold, through JSG, the company can provide simple and effective solutions which result in efficiency gains and improved quality, among other benefits.
“Depending on what you’re pumping, certain other criteria might need to be met, it might be something as harmless or simple as water but something a bit more dangerous like a caustic solution,” said Slowgrove.
“That’s often used in a lot of cleaning applications, if you are running a manufacturing facility you will have tanks full of dangerous fluids.”
One example Slowgrove cited was a customer that came to JSG wanting to mitigate WHS risks and increase efficiency around the filling and monitoring of fluids in a tank.
At the time, the company had operators manually opening and closing the valves which was resulting in a level of wastage because of the very nature of manual operation in this context.
“If you have an operator manually doing a task, your accuracy will be out and that causes wastage, not to mention if they come into contact with dangerous fluids, there might be WHS risks involved also,” Slowgrove added.
“The solution here was providing them with a flow meter and a controller with specifications for a valve.
“It was a simple and basic solution but the whole purpose was to install a valve next to a flow meter and then have the wiring going to a controller where you can measure and record.”
The result was allowing the customer to monitor the levels to an exact number.
“Once it has done so it will shut off that valve, so you get perfect, and efficient measurement of that batch,” said Slowgrove.
“For that customer, who was doing mini batches, it is a great example of how we can remove that WHS risk and improve the efficiency and made sure measurements were accurate with minimal wastage.
“That’s where automation comes into it, it is all about removing risk, improving efficiency, with the least number of parts, and that is what Kobold do.”
Slowgrove added that in terms of meeting certifications, of which the food and beverage industry requires many, is another point of strength for Kobold.
“A large number of our products are engineered specific for a certain application,” he said.
“If you are measuring milk you want to make sure your meter has the tri-clamp fittings for sanitary connections, stainless-steel wetted materials and food grade seals.
“A lot of our magnetic flow meters can be tailor made for specific food applications.”
JSG Industrial Systems always pride themselves on providing engineered solutions with their other key suppliers, and with Kobold Instrumentation products available from Germany, it only further enhances their capability to find every customer a solution.