Food and Beverage

An Australian fastening technology proven globally in some of the most demanding primary industry crushing, milling and materials processing applications has once again demonstrated its ability to slash maintenance downtime while increasing safety and productivity.  The Technofast EziTite® hydraulic nuts – which are also applicable to mining and quarrying applications – are being used by Northern NSW sugar mills to speedily secure and release roller clamping, mill stand and cap bolts in less than a third of the time taken previously.  The rapidly installed EziTite nuts were supplied by Norbar Australia – a specialised distributor of Technofast hydraulic bolt tensioning products – and installed by Technofast’s Technical Solutions specialist, Matt Blundell.  The simultaneously actuated hydraulic nuts, used in place of the previous flogging spanners, precisely tension multiple hex nuts up to 5in (127mm) diameter by stretching the bolt with hydraulic tensioning during installation then locking it in place in a clean and fast operation.  The ruggedly reliable nuts (which have decades of service in different applications) can be simultaneously and easily de-tensioned as required for roller and other machinery maintenance. This cuts downtime of vital machinery operating continuously during harvesting, while at the same time curtailing OH&S concerns about working at heights within confined spaces using physically demanding heavy tools with no control of bolt loads to ensure ongoing reliability and safety.  Results of the installations include:  Roller clamping hex nuts – actuated simultaneously by a Technofast hydraulic pump configured with 4-way manifold – are installed in 30-60 minutes by two personnel, compared with 4.5 hours previously, with 2-3 or more personnel. Time savings achieved at the busy mill total 3-4 hours per operation, with maintenance personal reporting that the EziTite nuts are much faster to use and require less effort to install. They remove hard manual labour and OH&S risks.  The mill stand and cap bolts application is similarly far swifter. It now takes an hour using two personnel, compared with four hours and 30 minutes for the old method, which used 2-3 personnel. Again, on-site maintenance personnel report the EziTite nuts are much faster and require less effort to install.  “These are big savings in downtime and major increases in safety in a seasonal industry, says international fastening specialist John Bucknell, Founder and CEO of Technofast precision engineered solutions. “Primary industries such as sugar can be extremely busy during harvesting time with many people operating under arduous conditions. Technologies that can save time and cost, while increasing safety, are wonderful for staff and wonderful for the bottom line”.   Technofast fastening solutions are used globally in time and safety-conscious industries with the highest operational standards, ranging from nuclear, fossil and green power plants through to hard rock mining and quarries where reliability and safety is essential. (www.technofast.com)  

Safeguarding safety and hygiene is a priority for the food, beverage and agribusiness industries Higher safety demands faced by food, beverage and agribusiness processors and packagers are driving demand for advanced engineering plastics to withstand the demands of the latest cleaning and hygiene systems. Clean in Place (CIP) systems, enzyme systems and aseptic packaging are important areas where such plastics can offer high performance in terms of resistance to temperatures, radiation, chemicals and water. Efficient food packaging equipment no longer has to be disassembled for cleaning, being fitted instead with a built-in “flush” (or CIP Clean in Place) system, says Mr Pat Flood, NSW Manager of the national and international engineered plastics specialist Cut To Size Plastics. Acid-based cleaning solutions are automatically routed through CIP machines’ plumbing so the tear-down and set-up cycles that previously took many hours can be reduced to a matter of minutes. Better hygiene and equipment utilisation outcomes are also produced by advanced agribusiness systems where enzymes are used for cleaning tanks and equipment such as ultrafiltration membranes or heat exchangers in the dairy industry, for example. “Both CIP and enzyme systems make demands on the materials with which they come in contact. CIP systems are generally acid-based or, more commonly, chlorine-based. Depending upon the concentration, these cleaners can be moderately to extremely caustic. Plastics such as our Wearlyte PET (polyethylene terephthalate) are highly resistant to acid and chlorine. At the same time, its non-porous surface resists staining, clearly outperforming widely used alternatives,” said Mr Flood. Wearlyte PET’s dimensional stability, excellent wear resistance, high strength and its ability to be used continuously at higher temperatures also make it an ideal candidate for replacing stainless steel components. For example, coupled with its stiffness and ease of fabrication, Wearlyte is commonly used in food presses. Here too, the material resists the highly-chlorinated sanitising solutions. Packaging For packaging food in plastic containers under sterile, or aseptic, conditions, a variety of engineering plastics can be selected to operate in the higher operating temperatures required to kill bacteria. Under these conditions, traditional materials like polyethylene may not provide adequate physical strength, says Mr Flood. Cut to Size products such as PEEK (Polyether ether ketone) High Temperature, on the other hand, retains its high mechanical and impact strength, stiffness and dimensional stability at elevated temperatures. It is one of the few plastics compatible with ultra-high vacuum applications. In addition, PEEK thermoplastics offer an excellent wear resistance over a wide range of working conditions. As a result, for example, distribution valves made of such materials are increasingly replacing stainless steel parts, which cause valve housings to wear easily and result in high maintenance costs. Materials such as Wearlyte PET are also preferred over stainless steel in order to minimise wear of the expensive mating part in vacuum shoes on high-speed, high-volume food packaging lines. Cut to Size’s general-purpose Wearace™ grade, meanwhile, is especially suited to create durable wear components because of its excellent versatility, dimensional stability and good wear properties. Easier to machine than stainless steel, Wearace is a superior material because of its limited expansion and low moisture absorption during process and cleaning applications. Cut To Size Plastics manufactures components for applications across Australasia and the Asia-Pacific from its Head Office in Sydney, where facilities include CNC machining facilities coupled with GibbsCAM™ and Solidworks™ software. Cut To Size Plastics Pty Ltd has been supplying Engineering Plastics to Australian and International customers for over 40 years. The company is committed to meeting Australian and International Quality Standards and to working within the guidelines issued by State workcover authorities. The company holds extensive stocks of Nylon, LiNNOTAM GLIDE, Delrin, Acetal, Teflon and UHMWPE combined with HDPE, PVC and Polypropylene to complement its service to industry. Our company has access to the most advanced engineering plastics worldwide. We will cut it, rout it, bend it or machine it, all to your specifications. Our comprehensive CNC machining facility at Yennora, coupled with GibbsCAM™ and Solidworks™ software make it easy to deal with us. Your drawings go into our computer – then to the CNC machines.

There has been a breakthrough in signal processing technology that enables detection of smaller-diameter metals in products – without creating unwanted false rejects – than ever before. Thermo Scientific’s Intellitrack XR (IXR) software affords the highest level of protection for manufacturers and consumers, and is now a standard feature on its family of APEX metal detectors, which are sold and serviced in Australasia through JL Lennard. The innovative technology can detect metal contaminants that are up to 50% smaller than traditional phasing methods. IXR is particularly effective in detecting metal in discrete moist products which change over time, such as bread, meat and cheese. An innovative signal cancellation approach lies at the heart of the technology. The intelligent IXR learns and cancels the X (reactive) and R (resistive) product signals, leaving only the metal contaminant to be detected. To assure high-performance over time, IXR tracks these product signals by adjusting product cancellation on the fly. This dual channel (X and R) cancellation approach eliminates the risk of phasing out a foreign metal object and having it go undetected. It also eliminates the possibility of false rejects. Tony DiNallo, General Manager of Packaging Equipment for JL Lennard Pty Ltd, says IXR is a major advancement in metal detection signal processing technology. “IXR is an entirely new method that offers significantly better results for previously difficult to handle products and, ultimately, helps ensure that consumers are receiving uncontaminated products,” Mr DiNallo said. Thermo Scientific is a US$13-Billion company based out of Minneapolis with manufacturing sites in the USA, Italy and Shanghai. Its product inspection range includes Metal Detectors, Checkweighers, X-ray inspection and Guided Microwave Spectroscopy to suit the pharmaceutical, beverage and food industries.