Food Manufacturing

Olympic success leads to robot investment at Speciality Breads

The installation of a second-user robotic system by Pacepacker has revolutionised the palletising of artisan loaves for Speciality Breads. Cutting palletising time in half, the robot is keeping up with the bakery's daily production of 100,000 individual loaves from its brand new-state-of-the art £3million bakery.

24th August 2016

Resistor choppers slow overspeeding fans

Fans don't normally need a braking resistor and chopper but when they are operating in a closed system, a situation may arise where one fan will over-speed the next and the DC bus voltage on their motor drives will then rise. Here John Mitchell, business development manager of CP Automation, reports on the case of GA Pet Food Partners in Leyland, Lancashire.

19th August 2016

Upgraded backstop clutch improves bucket elevator reliability

When a bucket elevator manufacturer was experiencing reliability problems with its backstop clutches, resulting in intensive maintenance and frequent replacement, it turned to Tsubaki. Replacing the trapped-roller design with a sprag clutch delivered higher torque capacity and longer life.

11th August 2016

Cake-frosting robot masters the art of pastry decoration

Swiss confectioner Suteria Chocolata AG has been producing its famous Solothurner Torte - still the chocolatier's bestseller - for a century. Never wavering from its original and delicious recipe, several years ago the company enlisted the help of a new pastry chef - a compact FANUC LR Mate.

27th July 2016

How a welding robot moves distances in the nanometre range

Can a robot move distances which are as small as 100 nanometres? Hard to imagine, considering that a human hair is 700 times thicker. One of Nanosystec's welding robots shows that it is possible. Behind its precision is a guidance system from HepcoMotion.

26th July 2016

Mobile drill rig uses electric drive for fume-free operation

Redevelopment of city centre locations can require drilling of deep bore holes to check the suitability of the soil and bed rock for supporting new buildings. If a site requires a comprehensive geological survey it may be necessary to drill inside existing buildings. However, most drills are diesel driven, meaning the exhaust fumes have to be extracted to the outside, a task that is difficult, time consuming, expensive and often not entirely successful. A new type of drilling rig, developed with the help of electric motor company Exico, can be used indoors without the risk of filling the building with diesel exhaust fumes.

18th July 2016

An automated system runs so efficiently you forget it's there

Steam is an important component of meat processing. Djurdjevic, a meat production company, wanted to automate the boiler they use to produce steam; they needed this system to be efficient and safe. Ideally, the system should operate effortlessly, without requiring human intervention. Using Unitronics PLC+HMI this goal became a reality.

6th July 2016

Electrical installation enables biomass co-generation

WEG has designed and installed an electrical system for biomass energy generation at a major sugarcane processing mill in Mexico. As the first co-generation project in the country, the scheme reuses sugarcane bagasse as a renewable energy resource to generate nearly 155GWh of electricity per year, which would be enough to supply around 28,000 homes with power for 12 months.

30th June 2016

Movicon SCADA provides visualisation and control for biodigester

The entrepreneurial spirit is strong with Henry du Val de Beaulieu who is building a giant 10,000 cubic metre fourth biodigester tank at his farm estate in Hampshire. Providing site visibility and remote control over most aspects of this already large anaerobic digestion enterprise site, including key parameters such as equipment status, temperature, pressure and gas / electricity generation is the robust and easy to use Movicon SCADA system provided by Products4Automation (P4A).

20th June 2016

Henkel Adhesives at the European Championship in soccer

As of last Friday, the lives of millions of people around the world have turned to focus on soccer for four weeks. Over 100 years ago, a leather ball was all you needed to play soccer. Today, it is the most popular sport in the world, and a big event like the current European Championship in soccer in France would be unthinkable without modern technology and a massive infrastructure. With its many materials and prodcuts, Henkel plays a part. Whether for soccer cleats, the team bus or even the stadium itself, Henkel is an important teammate.

17th June 2016

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