Protecting Fragile Food Product During Bulk Food Processing Operations
During material discharge, optical sensors ensure a maximum drop height of no more than 5 inches throughout the entire 150º tote rotation.
This automated bulk material handling system provides a total process solution for moving highly fragile food product through multiple process operations into bulk storage for temporary holding prior to final packaging. At a process rate of 12,000 pounds per hour, bulk totes of food product are nested into a lift carriage; the tote is sealed to a custom-designed discharge hood. The tote is vertically conveyed, using 1-1/2 inch, solid 304 stainless steel track and cam rollers, to a 23-foot discharge height. During tilting of the tote, optical sensors ensure a maximum product discharge drop distance of no more than 5 inches throughout the entire 150º rotation. Additional material handling occurs as three stages of vibratory conveyor move the highly fragile food product through two stages of high-speed image processing and sorting to ensure the material maintains its original characteristics throughout processing. The finish-processed food product is then moved into a storage tote using a reverse-tilt fill method to, again, ensure the product drop does not exceed 5 inches during filling. The final take-away conveyor section includes an integrated, NTEP-certified weigh system to ensure the filled tote weight is accurate to +/- .01% of the tote’s 4,000-pound total capacity.
Conveyor and container routing is directed from a single, menu-driven HMI designed and built by NBE. NBE automation expertise integrated the system-wide control, communication, monitoring, and data reporting to the facility’s central control system architecture. NBE integrated automation and performance-proven construction increased material processing rates while reducing material reject rates.
Sanitary Bulk Material Handling Equipment Cleanability: Value, Risk & Outcome
Can a typical, industrial bulk material handling system in a sanitary processing operation be thoroughly cleaned, even to the microbial level? Probably. But, with every cleaning event of a process-inappropriate bulk material handling system comes increased costs for labor, consumables (such as detergents and water), and energy. And, more importantly, with hard-to-clean equipment in sanitary applications comes a greater risk for inspection failure and product contamination. This post, the third in a series (Part 1 and Part 2) regarding sanitary bulk material handling equipment, will address several structural design features to look for in the construction of application-specific, sanitary bulk material handling equipment. To proactively specify these cleanability design features into sanitary bulk material handling equipment will reduce the costs and time of cleaning events, will aid in improving validation and inspection outcomes, and will ensure optimal compliance contribution (OCC).
Continuous weld seams are ground to a No. 4 finish, hand-burnished to eliminate pits, dimples, and crevices.
• Continuous-weld seams, ground smooth to a No. 4 finish: Weld seams, particularly in product contact areas and adjacent areas, must be free of pits, dimples, and crevices that could harbor contaminants such as material residue, microbes, and allergens. In addition to the No. 4 finish, hand-burnished weld seams will improve gross soil removal and resistance to microbial build-up during operation and cleaning.
Non-obstructing raceway contains unbundled utility lines; reduces material build-up, eases cleaning, inspection.
• Unbundled Utility Lines and Hoses: Counter to the typical, industrial machine design philosophy, the utility lines and hoses should be left unbundled. Unbundled utilities will minimize the accumulation of food, dirt, or other organic matter; and therefore reduce the opportunity for growth of microorganisms. Unbundled does not mean uncontrolled. A non-obstructive raceway contains the utility lines and hoses and enables fast and thorough cleaning, promotes material release, eliminates re-cleaning, and aids validation and inspection.
• Laser-cut, Single-plate Sideframe Construction: Typical, industrial machine design often builds substructures using square-tube framework. However, inherent with square-tube construction is the significant number of internal angles, corners, and welded seams that will often block contaminants from cleaning procedures. Laser-cut, single-plate frameworks provides significant cleanability and sanitary operating advantages over square-tube framework. By eliminating the internal angles, corners, and weld seams, laser-cut, single-plate framework reduces cleaning steps, reduces water and detergent use, improves cleanability, and protects product from contamination.
Sure, process-inappropriate equipment can be put into sanitary processing operations, and it may perform its mechanical operations effectively. But, for the sanitary process operation that is driven by external influences such as regulatory compliance, or internal influences such as HACCP programs, application-specific sanitary equipment construction will provide OCC without compromise to the equipment's mechanical operation.
Sanitary Bulk Material Handling Equipment: Structural Design and Contaminant Removal
As part of an ongoing series regarding sanitary bulk material handling equipment, this post will address the specific issue of structural design of sanitary bulk material handling equipment, and the critical role structural design has in ensuring the safety of sanitary product. Of course, sanitary structural design and sanitary materials of construction are equally important factors effecting the ability of bulk material handling equipment to provide optimal compliance contribution (OCC). For detailed information regarding materials of construction in sanitary equipment, please see this previous post.
In the matter of sanitary bulk material handling systems' structural design, it is worthwhile to restate an essential premise, that premise being: it is possible for two different pieces of equipment, placed into perfectly matching sanitary applications, performing the same mechanical function, and each having achieved compliance, for a unit designed to the specific, sanitary requirements of the application to have a significantly greater ability to prevent contaminants from entering the sanitary process stream than a general, industrial unit force-fit into the application. Let's take a look at several application-specific, sanitary design features that improve cleanability, improve validation and inspection outcomes, protect product safety, reduce consumables use, and ensure improved OCC.
Rounded cross members and angled flat surfaces eliminate material accumulation and pooling of liquids.
• Rounded framework beams and angled, rounded cross members: The use of rounded structural framework in sanitary construction, rather than square tubing common in general industrial equipment construction, eliminates flat surfaces where material accumulation and pooling of liquids can occur. The rounded cross members are also angled away from product contact areas to move material and liquids away from product and speed drainage and drying during cleaning.
• No internal angles or corners; flat surfaces angled 45˚ to horizontal: Notorious for accumulating contaminants and being difficult to clean, validate, and inspect; internal angles and internal corners in structural elements and component construction should be cut out during fabrication to eliminate areas where contaminants can gather. If flat surfaces are present, on controls enclosures, for example; these surfaces should be angled, at least to 45˚ to horizontal, and directed away from product contact areas.
Material release openings remove foreign materials from the sanitary process stream.
• Material release openings: With force-fit, general industrial dry bulk material handling systems, foreign materials (materials other than the intended process material) are often inadvertently directed into the sanitary material process stream because no accommodation has been made to collect and remove them. An application-specific, sanitary bulk material handling equipment design must proactively integrate foreign material release openings at every handling action point; from input to final packaging.
Sanitary suspension design offsets controls enclosure from equipment framework.
• Controls enclosures offset from structural framework: The necessary proximity of control enclosures near to the process stream, and their numerous inherent right angles, make controls enclosures a challenge to thoroughly clean and inspect. Beyond simple standoffs (also common to force-fit equipment), a highly sanitary enclosure management design uses a cut-out inset area and suspension to offset the enclosure from the structure. This design creates material release openings and visual inspection openings, and eliminates right angles, welded joints, and flat surfaces where microbes, allergen residues, and proteins associated with gluten can accumulate.
Structural design of application-specific, sanitary bulk material handling equipment must be a proactive effort. A pre-production HACCP assessment of the application will effectively guide the framework and component designs as well as the selection of the materials of construction. Avoiding the common design errors associated with force-fit, general industrial bulk material handling systems will ensure the protection of product and personnel, reduce cleaning and sanitizing times, and enable the highest levels of optimal compliance contribution.
Sanitary Bulk Material Handling Equipment: Materials of Construction In Process-specific Applications
The sanitary-specific construction of this bulk material tote dumper exemplifies OCC design.
In an earlier post, some of the risks of integrating process-inappropriate equipment into sanitary bulk material handling applications were presented. In that post it was noted that many sanitary processing operations settle for force-fit, general industrial equipment rather than process-specific, sanitary bulk material handling equipment. "Clearly, there are degrees, or relative levels to sanitary compliance," says Tom Krueger, CMC, president of Summit Laboratory. "It is critical to recognize how the sanitary-specific construction of process-appropriate, sanitary bulk material handling equipment can translate to improved product safety, and a greater optimal compliance contribution". (OCC)
Materials of construction is referenced in industry guidelines, third-party standards, and in government regulations as an important aspect of sanitary equipment construction. Yet, with such vague references as, 'adequately cleanable', 'appropriate', and 'compatible', it is common for minimally sanitary equipment to be in use despite the negative effects this process inappropriate equipment may have. National Bulk Equipment, Inc. (NBE) has taken a proactive effort to ensure that it's process-specific sanitary bulk material handling equipment provides optimal compliance contribution.
These weld seams, in the product contact area, are continuous and ground to a No. 4 finish.
Regarding materials of construction, NBE uses findings from their pre-production, HACCP assessment to guide the framework and component designs and the selection of the materials of construction. This step puts in priority the protection of personnel and product; reduces cleaning, validation, and inspection times; and enables the highest compatibility with the environmental conditions specific to the process operation. For example, as appropriate, the structural framework, located below the product contact zone can be carbon steel. However, that carbon steel will be sandblasted, fabricated with smooth-ground continuous welds, and then primed and painted with FDA-approved epoxy paint. Materials in product contact and adjacent areas, are constructed of Type 316L stainless steel, also with continuous-weld seams. These stainless steel seams are then ground to a No. 4 finish to eliminate any divots, crevices, or other imperfections in the weld seam where microbial contaminants could accumulate.
In materials of construction, as in every aspect of process-specific sanitary bulk material handling equipment design, specifications beyond the standard are what achieve OCC and the resulting process advantages of: reduced time targets for cleaning, validation, and inspection; minimal labor allocation for cleaning and validation; limiting of consumables (water, chemicals, power) during cleaning; and increased repeatability of positive inspection outcomes.
Sanitary Process Equipment: Product Safety Guidelines and Standards
Processing industries, such as: food, pharmaceutical, chemical, petfood, and many more recognize, everyday, their primary objective is to produce safe product that is free of microbial and physical contaminants. This is no mystery. It's a matter of fact. And, often, a matter of survival. Sure, their objective is clear, and the various industry guidelines, third-party standards, and governmental regulations are in place to, supposedly, assist in achieving the objective. Yet, with all the clarity of objective, and instruction for its achievement, a glance into these processing industries would seem to indicate a willingness to tolerate the integration of functionally inappropriate process equipment -- even at the risk of: [i] creating an unnecessary hindrance to cleanability and validation, [ii] increasing the likelihood of non-sanitary operation, [iii] heightened exposure to contaminates, [iv] incompatibility with sanitary facility design principles,[v] greater hazard for operators, cleaning and maintenance staff, and validation/inspection personnel, and [vi] reduced overall equipment effectiveness (OEE).
Sanitary tote dumper with application-specific, functionally appropriate design and construction provides definitive compliance with industry guidelines, regulatory standards.
Why the risk tolerance? Why the willingness to accept degrees of functionally appropriate equipment? Why the willingness to compromise and trade-off process equipment performance variables? "It's a common misperception within many processing and packaging operations that the necessity for truly sanitary equipment design increases only as material gets closer to the center of process operations," says Tom Krueger, CMC, president of Summit Laboratory. "Unfortunately, as a result, many processing operations have settled for force-fit, general industry bulk material handling equipment. In doing so, they have done little to eliminate the presence of contaminants at the point of material introduction, and possibly put their entire, downstream process operation at risk," says Krueger. "Likewise, without functionally appropriate sanitary bulk container filling and packaging equipment, the introduction into the marketplace of contaminated finished product can become an increased risk."
Bulk Filling and Discharging Equipment Guide Book Presents In-use Advantages of Application-specific Sanitary Equipment Versus Force-fit General Equipment
The second in a series of bulk material handling equipment guide books has been released. This newest guide book, entitled, Sanitary Bulk Filling and Discharging Systems Data and Specification Guide Book, was developed to bring clarity to the common, yet inaccurate, perceptions of complexity and confusion associated with the integration of bulk material handling equipment to sanitary process operations.
The Sanitary Bulk Filling and Discharging Systems Data and Specifications Guide Book addresses two primary areas of concern shared amongst production and process engineers, plant operations and management personnel, and corporate managers, with respect to sanitary
The Sanitary Bulk Filling and Discharging Systems Data and Specifications Guide Book details bulk bag filler systems, bulk bag unloader systems, bulk container dumper systems, and bag dump stations. Specific content includes: materials of construction guidelines for sanitary structures and components; WIP, CIP, and SIP-ready equipment design and construction; U.S. and IEC/ISO controls and automation compliance; and application-specific risk assessment implementation.
bulk material handling equipment. These concerns are: (i) identifying alternatives to force-fit, general industrial equipment designs touted as sanitary merely because of their stainless steel materials, and (ii) gaining confidence in matters relating to regulatory compliance of sanitary bulk material handling equipment, and the conformance of sanitary bulk equipment to regulated processes and practices. The guide book responds to these, and other issues, by explaining how application-specific, compliance-ready, sanitary bulk material handling systems eliminate the inspection failures, retrofits, corrective fabrication and finishing, and re-programming and re-inspection resulting when general, industrial equipment designs are force-fit into sanitary applications. The guide book also addresses the issue of sanitary equipment relative to process and practice acceptance, and the corresponding importance of selecting a bulk material handling equipment manufacturer based on an assessment of their proficiencies in areas such as: domestic and international regulatory matters; SCADA and single-unit controls and automation integration; manufacturing resources; systems commissioning; and installed base of relevant, integrated, sanitary bulk material handling systems.
The Sanitary Bulk Filling and Discharging Systems Data and Specifications Guide Book details bulk bag filler systems, bulk bag unloader systems, bulk container dumper systems, and bag dump stations. Specific content includes: materials of construction guidelines for sanitary structural framework and components; WIP, CIP, and SIP-ready equipment design and construction features; U.S. and IEC/ISO controls and automation compliance capabilities; and application-specific risk assessment implementation. The guide book also offers a summary overview of other bulk material handling equipment, including: bulk material mixing and blending, bulk material weighing, and bulk material storage systems.
The first guide book in this series is entitled, Automated Bulk Filling and Discharging Systems Data and Specifications, and is also available for immediate download.
Bulk Material Handling in Sanitary Applications: Regulatory Influences and Compliance-ready Equipment Design
The signing into law of the Food Safety Modernization Act, on January 4, 2011, enabled the Food and Drug Administration to, "...set in motion sweeping improvements to the security and safety of our nation's food supply." Close on the heels of the FSMA, the FDA, on April 20, 2011, released its 'Strategic Priorities 2011 - 2015' document. One of the strategic priorities presented in the document is to, 'Strengthen Compliance and Enforcement Activities to Support Public Health'. Within the context of this particular strategy the FDA makes clear that it will be, "...implementing a number of new programs designed to sharpen the effectiveness and timeliness of its regulatory, compliance, and enforcement systems." Certainly the complexities of international supply chains, and the quantity and diversity of touchpoints throughout the farm-to-table spectrum call for greater attention and more effective oversight on the part of the FDA and other governing bodies. But, what does this mean for food processing and packaging operations? How can a production facility respond?
Clearly, the best course of action is to be proactive. The FDA, in its strategic documents, is emphatic about taking enforcement action more rapidly, and, "...protecting the public health through criminal prosecution...to deter conduct that violates FDA-enforced laws." One of the first proactive actions in a food processing operation should be a thorough evaluation of any bulk material handling equipment used in a sanitary food processing application; whether in early-stage material input processes, or later-stage operations integrated deeper into the process. Sanitary process operations are no place to settle for force-fit, general-industry bulk material handling equipment. NBE sanitary-application bulk material handling systems eliminate the inspection failures, retrofits, corrective fabrication and finishing, re-programming, and re-inspections resulting when general industry units are force-fit into sanitary processes. Each NBE sanitary bulk material handling system, including: bulk bag fillers, bulk bag unloaders, container dumpers, and bag dump stations is designed and built to be compliance-ready and to conform, from the ground up, to the specific regulated processes and practices of each application. NBE expertise in domestic and international standards across design categories, such as: electrical and mechanical, hydraulics and pneumatics, and safety and controls provide proactive assurance of best-practice sanitary equipment and process design. Just because equipment is built of stainless steel doesn't make it process-compliant. bring clarity and confidence to material handling equipment compliance and process acceptance procedures with the advantages of NBE sanitary-construction material handling equipment and proactive regulatory compliance capabilities.
Bulk Material Handling Equipment Design and Automation
What are the primary factors influencing machine design and process automation specification in the bulk material handling industry? Operator safety, of course, comes to mind as an essential priority. Yet, even with operator safety, varied equipment applications will have differing requirements. Perhaps a good place to start when addressing operator safety would be the ANSI B11.TR3-2000 Technical Report on Risk Assessment and Risk Reduction. However, as the bulk material handling marketplace becomes more global, and European influences continue to lead the unification process of international standards, simply relying on domestic standards will clearly not be sufficient. In fact, global organizations purchasing U.S.-made equipment for their U.S. processing or packaging operations are commonly requiring international standards for such equipment.
The issue of identifying appropriate codes and standards reaches far beyond the single aspect of operator safety. And, regulatory codes and standards are but two of the many machine design and automation factors bulk material handling OEMs and end users must address. From the OEM's perspective, what about mechatronics as a whole? From the end user's perspective, what about matters of overall equipment effectiveness, or sustainability?
Bulk material handling manufacturers must take the initiative and proactively bring products to market that will meet or exceed the standards of the marketplace (domestic or international); both from a regulatory perspective and from a functional perspective.