Food for Thought
When food processors have a feed problem, where do they turn? In the cases which are described below, companies at the forefront of the industry turned to KFA, specialists in the design and manufacture of cost effective handling, feeder and loading systems for the food, process and engineering industries
Fairport Engineering
When Fairport Engineering were manufacturing a new filling line for Heinz & Co. Ltd, they needed a feed unit that would accurately dispense mini sausages on demand to join the famous Heinz baked beans in cans. Fairport asked KFA to design and build a system. In doing so they incorporated monitoring and control sensors to ensure that the correct volume of mini sausages were available to be canned. An overhead bucket elevator discharges on demand into a bulk hopper, which is positioned above the electro-magnetic vibratory feeders. Cleanliness and the avoidance of contamination are vital, and so stainless steel contact surfaces and fully enclosed mechanisms are used throughout.
By involving them at the project design stage, what Fairport found in KFA was a team able to identify their exact requirements and build an economic system that met all their customer's performance criteria. The system proved so successful that Fairport Engineering have recently placed orders for additional cascade feeders for further process lines.
McVitie's
Not only can KFA build units that handle discrete items like sausages, their capability includes the supply of specialist feeders for powdered and granular materials. To provide the correct amount of biscuit crumble on the top of their fruit pies, McVitie's (now part of the Heinz Group) needed a feeder unit which was able to supply their volumetric filler at a slow but constant rate. KFA designed a mobile vibratory feeder capable of taking a standard 120 litres of crumble and dispensing it at the low even rate required. The crumble is discharged from their volumetric filler as a curtain through which the pies are passed on a belt conveyor. The output of the feed system is controlled via an ultrasonic sensor which monitors the demand and adjusts the flow precisely.
Because of the obvious need for hygiene and so that the whole unit can be moved off the line, mobility is important. The unit is mounted on lockable wheels and the quick release acoustic panels are easily removed so that the system can be thoroughly cleaned away from the process area with the minimum of down time. The contact surfaces are all food grade stainless steel and great care has been taken to minimise trap points where accumulation of non-moving granules might occur. Once again, because of the practical and economical way in which KFA met Mc Vitie's needs, further equipment is planned.
Kraft
A company that has purchased some 20 machines from the same source over a five year period clearly knows when it has found an effective and reliable supplier. Such an organisation is Kraft Foods who have bought single and twin deck linear screen feeders for their freeze dried coffee and desert packing lines from KFA since 1995. Various types of vibratory drive systems have been used to screen and convey product at rates of up to 100 kg per minute over woven or perforated screening decks.
On one recent occasion, Kraft Foods issued a specification which required coffee granules to be segregated by size, with those above 5 mm and below 0.5 mm returned for reprocessing, while those in between these sizes are packaged for sale. The inlet of the machine incorporated a mechanical shut off valve and the inlet and discharge ports had to suit existing equipment port centres. Following product trials at KFA, a suitable machine, having all internal parts of stainless steel and incorporating removable woven wire screening decks, was designed and manufactured at KFA's Redditch factory.
Warwick Container Systems
Certain granular food products tend to agglomerate and become difficult to handle within a processing system. This was the difficulty faced by Warwick Container Systems in the design of a big-bag discharge system for cheese powder, to be supplied to a Dutch company. The powder had to be discharged at a rate of 75 kg per minute but it tended to flow unevenly as lumps could easily form.
KFA decided that they could not use an electromagnetic feeder giving high frequency, low amplitude vibratory feed. Instead they designed a mechanical shaker drive machine which gave low frequency, high amplitude characteristics, eliminating the agglomeration and giving the required discharge rate. The unit, with stainless steel contact parts, was totally enclosed to avoid both contamination and powder escape. Inspection ports were built into its three meter length to allow for ease of checking of the powder across the full 500 mm width. Despite being a sealed conveyor tunnel, to aid the frequent washing of the system between the processing of standard and vegetarian cheese powder, all the panels were quickly detachable.
By supplying samples of the powder and giving sufficient process data, the customer allowed KFA to draw on their wide experience to develop an exceptionally efficient system and overcome the inherent material characteristics.
Users of the equipment designed and manufactured by KF Alliance Engineering have one thing in common, whether they use them for corn flakes, sausages, pet food or coffee, they all demand the highest quality and the best back up. That's why they choose KFA not just the first time but consistently. They know that KFA won't let them down and will use their experience and expertise to come up with the optimum solution to novel, difficult or complex handling or feed problems.
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