It’s vital for food manufacturers to ensure their packaging lines have efficient product handling solutions to guarantee product quality and ensure food safety. Prepared food trays can oftentimes present challenges for manufacturers during the packaging process. The solution below provided low back pressure accumulation for gentle product handling and consistency while minimizing opportunities for product jamming to occur. Learn how this integrated solution from Shuttleworth’s enhanced the customer’s throughput while preserving the integrity of the final product.
Shuttleworth’s System Spotlight – Sealed Prepared Food Trays
This high-speed, wash-down solution transported, accumulated and combined prepared food trays within 5 lines in preparation for packaging. This system integrated with an existing robot which would pick and place a pattern of 5 wide by 8 long a conveyor surface featuring Shuttleworth’s Slip-Torque® roller technology. The product would then be single rowed while product stops and brakes alternate to retract and release groups of trays for combining. Key features of this automated system design include:
- Shuttleworth’s patented Slip-Torque® roller technology and surface speed changes provided mass flow accumulation in a space saving design
- Aluminum frame design conveyor for the wash-down environment
- Shuttleworth’s patented Slip-Torque® roller technology for gentle product handling and ease of transporting prepared food trays
- High-level sensors used to signal upstream robot feeding
- Product stops and brakes combined with an alternating swinging combiner to incorporate the product into a single lane
The Challenge
- Customer required a solution that would quickly and safely accumulate and combine sealed prepared food trays into a single row for final packaging
- All equipment must integrate seamlessly into customer’s existing pattern- forming robot as well as customer-supplied drying conveyor
- Product being transported must be positioned wide-edge leading for final packaging
- System must meet food safety standards and government-regulated requirements
Our Solution
- Aluminum frame conveyor system equipped with Slip-Torque® roller technology provided the customer with a wash down environment to meet federal sanitary regulations.
- Slip-Torque® roller technology used for more efficient and gentle product handling of product
- Sensor pattern to detect wrong-facing product to ensure each product was accumulated correctly for next station
- Solution integrated seamlessly with customer supplied equipment at an overall speed of 280 products per minute
The Results
- The solution allowed for the free-flowing accumulation of product that eliminated any potential product jams which saved on time and labor costs
- The Shuttleworth system automatically detects and rejects wrong facing trays off the conveyor line which greatly increased efficiency
- This high-speed solution delivered 280 products per minute without any product jamming or stalls
Look below to view the latest System Spotlight showcasing the system in action!