Automatic cleaning of dairy line

Challenge
To increase capacity, reduce product damage and improve the hygienic conditions.

Solution 
Stainless steel conveyors with an automatic washing program and dynamic control of conveyor speed.

Benefits
Higher reliability, better hygiene and lower production costs. 

Need for flexibility and good hygiene

The customer required high flexibility between fillers and packers. They wanted to increase the capacity, renew their old conveyor system and improve the hygienic conditions in the filling area. The factory’s old manual system was expensive, and only possible to clean after the filling had been finalized. Therefore, the new system had to be automatic and focus on good hygiene, low maintenance and high accessibility.

Customized washing program

FlexLink designed a conveyor system combined with a washing program, customized for the specific hygienic needs. To secure a short production stop, conveyor sections were pre-assembled in FlexLink’s own workshop, and the sections were then lifted into the factory.A technical challenge in this project was the limited space in the factory. FlexLink designed a compact solution, where the conveyors were installed in many different levels. Although the space was limited, the solution was flexible.

Decreased damages of products

A frequent problem in the dairy industry, is packages that get damaged during production. FlexLink applied dynamic control of the conveyors’ speed, to decrease backpressure from the packages queuing up on the conveyor. In the old system, they used water and soap to reduce friction and backpressure. But with this new solution that was not necessary, and in addition, it was more cost effective.

A clean and smart conveyor system

The result of the cooperation was rewarding in many ways. The renewing of the old conveyor system led to a higher reliability of supply, where the production was ready on time. It has also created more space for better access, which generates a better working environment. The cleaning process is now faster and more effective than it was before, which leads to lower production costs. This investment has made the customer far more competitive.