Improving efficiency, utilising space

Syspal Ltd Featured Product A leading cheese manufacturer, at the forefront of innovation and continual improvement, were looking to improve productivity through their cheese forming and packaging section.

Following previous successful projects with SYSPAL, discussions again took place to determine the best solution for increasing efficiency.

Within the current system the customer wanted to supply 3 vacuum sealing machines from 2 cheese block forming lanes. Each 20Kg block required transporting from the forming / bagging machine though weigh scales to a vacuum sealing machine. The sealed product then required transferring to the packing section for storage whilst maturing.

The concept agreed upon was a system which allowed product from the 2 existing forming lines to travel down PU conveyors to new direction changing conveyors. Signals could determine whether they continued on their present path, or transferred to a third line, depending on how they needed to be sealed. The close proximity of lines meant that a combination of high speed lifters and conveyors were required to achieve production takt/cycle times.

Each high speed lifter contained a motorised conveyor/ direction changing unit, this allowed the product''s orientation to change prior to entering machines.

To ensure compatibility, the SYSPAL design team created a comprehensive replica 3D model of the current system. Both Companies could then visualise how the complete system would work and adapt the solution to suit the brief. This ground work created a solid platform to ensure the system was installed within set boundaries. As with many production environments, the time available for integration needed to be kept a minimum. Should future work on this system be undertaken, the detailed model will provide a firm footing for changes to take place, allowing lead times to be minimised and disruption reduced in the future.

Specialist firms were brought together and project managed by SYSPAL to ensure installation and commissioning was completed within the very tight time frame available.