How to Overcome the Challenges of Handling Delicate Products

Maintenance can be another factor contributing to downtime, which was discovered by Herr Foods Inc., an eco-conscious snack foods producer with 340 product offerings, including potato chips, pretzels, popcorn and onion rings. When the company sought a retrofit solution for its form, fill and seal machinery to reduce maintenance costs, it partnered with PIAB, a manufacturer of industrial vacuum technology. Previously, the machine was equipped with noisy mechanical pumps that required frequent maintenance. Herr Foods sought to reduce the noise and heat generated by the pumps as well as the repair costs.

Herr outfitted its 15 machines with compressed-air vacuum pumps, each equipped with a multi-stage ejector cartridge for a decentralized handling solution that consumes less energy. The pumps offered a secure and reliable grip on Herr's hard-to-handle flexible packages.

Since the retrofit, Herr Foods has seen a dramatic decrease in line losses and inefficiencies. The pumps have also helped eliminate thousands of dollars in maintenance and replacement costs.

Challenge: Inefficiencies increase the amount of unnecessary energy consumption.

Solution: A decentralized vacuum system equipped with energy-reducing accessories can cut energy consumption and related expenses.

Installing decentralized, compressed-air vacuum pumps in existing equipment brings the source of the vacuum closer to the points of use and helps minimize the loss of vacuum while also reducing air use. Alternatively, a centralized compressed air vacuum system can cause the vacuum to travel longer distances to the point of use. Since the decentralized system brings the vacuum source closer to the point of use, less vacuum is lost in traveling to the point of use, assuring a more secure grip.

In the case of Herr Foods, the new, decentralized vacuum pumps reduced compressed-air requirements for secure product handling. Additionally, equipping a decentralized vacuum solution with energy and air-saving accessories will optimize both the performance and energy savings of the system. For food manufacturers who package their delicate products in leak-prone materials, such as paper, plastic bags and corrugated cardboard, these tools can provide powerful suction without unnecessary energy consumption for effective handling.

Accessories, such as an integrated control, can be added to a compressed-air vacuum pump to fine-tune the performance of the pump while also lowering energy consumption by maintaining a constant vacuum level. Such programmable features deliver continuous vacuum or blow-pressure levels throughout the system.

Peter Tell is chief technical officer at PIAB (www.piab.com), a manufacturer of vacuum solutions for automated material handling and factory automation processes. He developed the multi-stage ejector principle upon which PIAB's vacuum technology is built.