PACFLANGE
- ZERO
CONTAMINATION
CONVEYOR
SOLUTIONS
Developed in New Zealand
specifically for food processing and
production industries worldwide,
PacFlange is designed to replace
the conventional greased roller
bearing - eliminating grease and
providing a zero contamination and
maintenance -free solution.
FT597
Ask yourself:
• when a greased roller bearing
fails in your factory, what is the
cost?
• is grease contamination of
your product a concern?
• will your customers or staff eat
‘food grade grease’?
• could your company suffer
significant losses due to ‘food
grade grease’ contamination?
• what is your cost on food
grade grease and bearing
maintenance per year?
• what is the expected life of
your greased bearings?
For more information, please visit www.PacFlange.com or
email sales@pacflange.com.
a shift where the counterweight
system was tired firmly in place,” he
says. “The counterweight system did
not work well in the application, with
the blades needing to be cleaned
every 15-20 minutes, causing
production to stop three or four
times per hour. “
Mueller says the main reason for
excess stoppage in production was
the counterweight system, which
was extremely difficult to tension.
The excessive amount of carryback
also meant that whole cuts of meat
would bypass the cleaner, travelling
onto the return side of the belt and
dropping to the floor, making it unfit
for human consumption.
“We were losing hundreds of dollars
per week in lamb that was being
dropped onto the floor because it
wasn’t able to be sold and contribute
to the profit of the company.”
In search of a solution to these
production-halting issues, Mueller
visited the Flexco stand at the
Foodtech Packtech tradeshow in
Auckland in 2016 and saw with
interest the company’s Food Grade
Primary (FGP) cleaner. The product
offered a solution to fill a gap in the
market space, where no solution of
the same calibre was available.
Mueller made the decision to
implement the Flexco stainless steel
FGP cleaner, which features an FDAapproved
and USDA-certified metal
detectable blade. After installing the
cleaner, the company saw an almost
complete and immediate reduction
in carryback, with 20kg worth of
product being saved per day - just
on the one conveyor. The cleaner
was installed in 2016 and two years
later, the results still stand.
By reducing carryback, the company
salvaged “up to 20kg per day,
depending on cuts and room
speed,” Mueller says. “We were able
to add to our stock levels, instead of
constantly throwing spoilt meat in the
bin. This meant added profitability for
the company.”
By installing the new cleaner, the
need for the cleaning system to be
constantly cleaned and maintained
was eliminated, Mueller says, “as
long as the tension is set correctly,
they do not need clearing all day,”
allowing production to be constant
throughout both eight-hour shifts
without interruption.
By eliminating the need for constant
maintenance, the company saved
labour charges of more than $2500
per year. Apart from monetary
savings in wages for the excess
labour required, the company
also gained time and increased
productivity as staff are now free to
perform other productivity-boosting
tasks instead of constantly reacting
to the same problem.
Flexco’s FGP cleaner has been able
to increase productivity by reducing
the amount of labour-intensive hours
spent cleaning and maintaining
tension on the previous ineffective
cleaner. Flexco has also saved the
company a considerable amount of
money, which could be put to more
effective uses, adding to profitability
and able to be used towards the
purchase of additional resources to
better the company’s output.
www.foodtechnology.co.nz 71
/www.PacFlange.com
/www.foodtechnology.co.nz
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