Case Studies
Madelaine Chocolate
Bucket Elevator Conveyor System Increases Chocolate Plant's Production and Improves Quality
Madelaine
Chocolate specializes in premium novelty and panned chocolate candies.
Their 450 emplyees ensure more than 100,000 pounds of chocolate flow
throught the factory every day. In addition to distributing their own
brand of smooth rich chocolate, the 60-year old Queens, New York
company is a sizable player in the competitive private brand business
as well.
Successfully competing int he private label,
foilwrapped, chocolate business requires production lines that adapt to
ever changing sizes, shapes, tastes, wrapper designs and quantities in
order to fulfill custoemr demand. The current 200,000 square foot plant
contains 14 molding lines and 8 production kitchens. Madelaine, long
known for its premium chocolates' high gloss appearance and those
perfectly wrapped chocolate Easter eggs, was being challenged to
increase productionof their offerings while reducing unit cost.
Faced
with a near capacity factory, Madelaine's operations manager Jeremy
Kaye, contacted Frazier & Son of Conroe, Texas to design a
distribution system to move an additional 36% increase production from
the molding plant to a pair of new packaging machines. The footprint of
this distribution system had to fit within the existing location of the
molding plant relative to the foil wrappers.
"Prior to the
system upgrade, we would convey the chocolate on a conveyor belt and
have it fall into a hopper", said Mr. Kaye. "From the hopper it was
brought up on an incline cleated conveyor to the foiling machine. The
new system includes a molding line, metal detector, separator, bucket
elevator, foiling machine and bagger."
"Now the chocolate is
moved in buckets within the conveyor system," continued Kaye. "Using
photo eye and height sensors we're able to determine if the machine is
low in product and requires more chocolate. The whole operation is done
using computer programming and photo eye sensors. Two chutes can feed
the foilers and the third chute discharges the overflow that could not
get to the wrappers. The product can cycle three times through the
elevator conveyor before it is discharged into an overflow bin. This
has given us an additional storage capacity of 700 pounds of molded
product that can be cycled back into the line should the molding line
go down."
The design firm, Frazier & Son, specialists in
providing quality bucket conveyor systems for over 55 years, indicated
a critical component to the success of the system was to maintain
molding production even if a foil wrapper jammed or was delayed during
a required foil wrap change. The solution was a CB-NLC bucket elevator
conveyor capable of buffering 17 minutes of production before sending,
in this case, foil wrapped Easter eggs to an overflow discharge.
In
addition, the company was requested to provde a sorter to reject halves
from reaching the foilers. Frazier provided a custom sorter using an
Eriez High Deflection Electromagnetic Drive. Since Frazier had refit an
older sorter with an Eriez HS in the past, the company had a firm
idea of how the sorter should be built to accomodate the capacity
desired for this project even though this was a huge increase in
capacity. Solid modeling enabled engineers to develop a solution that
met with Eriez design parametersfor the vibratory drives while building
a stout and adjustable sorting deck for Madelaine.
The
sorter recieves product from the customer's metal detector on the end
of the molding plant line and transfers the product to another Eriez
feeder to transfer the product to the elevator/conveyor.
The
feeder can stop and start on demand from the elevator/conveyor,
buffering product while the elevator decides whether or not buckets can
be filed. The elevator/conveyor transfers product to the two foilers on
a 50/50 basis, keeping them satisfied with product on a steady basis.
If one or both foilers is satisfied, product is transferred to the
other foiler or is recycled to the feed point.
The system
was designed to provide for a 7x refill before sending product to the
bulk outflow point. In anticipation of having to bulk out product, the
molding plant line can be shut down in an orderly fashion and the
elevator/conveyor will accept all of the product in the system without
having to bulk out the product for recycling. If desired, the molding
plant can remain running and product can be bulked out and reintroduced
later for wrapping. Under either scenario, wrapping can be recommended
when ready since the elevator/conveyor is ready to deliver product.
Frazier
used Jacob Tubing stainless steel fittings and tube to transfer product
gently from the elevator's discharges to the wrappers and to the bulk
out discharge. Jacob provides sanitary, quick disconnect, tubing system
that is easy to dismantle for sanitation and reassembly.
Jan
Tec Incorporated provided a new 90 degree turn conveyor to take product
from the molding plant to Madelaine Chocolate's existing metal
detector. Frazier & Son and Jan Tec worked closely to ensure that
product was transferred between the new equiupment and existing
equipment flawlessly.
Jeremy kaye of Madelaine said, "The
equipment is installed and running perfectly. It is the best production
line in our plant. The system has reduced costs by at least $100,000
annually while increasing production by 36% and delivering a better
product because of its gentle handling process."
Frazier
& Son designs and builds custom sanitary bucket elevator systems
for customer's specific application. Elevator conveyors are available
in single or multiple discharge units with continuous or indexed
delivery capabilites.
Goya Foods Case Study, by Eriez Magnetics
Download this case study
Problem: The philosophy for Goya® Foods, a
multi-national, family owned business that specializes in Hispanic
cuisine, is best summed up in its slogan: “If it’s Goya®, it has to be
good.” When Goya opened a new facility in Houston, the company wanted
to incorporate new manufacturing and packaging technologies that would
enhance the Goya reputation for quality.
Solution: Frazier & Son, a company that
designs, engineers, and manufacturers bucket elevators and net weight
scales, sat down with the team from Eriez and developed a plan to
combine Frazier’s elevators with Eriez vibratory feeders/screeners and
metal detectors. They came up with an integrated system that would
allow Goya to move beans easily and safely throughout their process.
Result: The result is a product line that moves the
beans through the plant quickly, screens for contamination and scans
for metal contamination in a smaller footprint than Goya imagined was
possible. Goya uses the Eriez Vibratory Feeder/Screener Model HD-66 in
combination with Frazier’s bucket elevators. The beans are bagged and
then run through the Eriez E-Z Tec DSP Metal Detector. Goya now can
process the beans in its plant with the knowledge that any metal
contamination picked up in the field or in transport will be
eliminated.
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