Food Manufacturing

Upgrading process safety with compact control valves

Manufacturers in the food and beverage industry are finding that they need to upgrade the safety on their process plant. Fortunately, compact valves and relatively simple changes to control circuits make this a straightforward task.

11th August 2016

High-speed polymer gearboxes deliver material gains

The ongoing development of advanced, heat resistant materials such as polymers is increasingly providing today's machine designers with practical and effective products. A good example of this is the high-speed polymer gearboxes developed by ROTALINK which have been successfully used for diverse applications, ranging from welding wire feeders to coffee grinders.

20th July 2016

Retrofit safety using innovative control valves

The food and beverage industry has embraced automation - partly due to the necessity of reducing production costs, but also to help meet food safety standards and personnel safety legislation. By taking a modular approach to automation, plant owners can gradually introduce new technologies and expand the number of automated processes, in order to maintain productivity and keep up with the latest safety legislation.

14th July 2016

Maximising heat exchange efficiency reduces costs

A heat exchanger is simply a device for transferring heat from one fluid or gas to another. Yet choosing the best suited heat exchanger for a particular application is not that simple and requires the supplier to fully understand your process and products so that the system delivers optimum performance throughout its working life.

7th July 2016

A comparison of blue and red laser triangulation sensors

Although red laser triangulation displacement sensors have been in use for more than 20 years, blue laser versions are also now available. Before selecting which colour to use, it is important to understand which type performs best on which target materials, says Chris Jones, Managing Director at Micro-Epsilon UK.

6th July 2016

Lee Spring provides customer assist service to UK manufacturing

Across applications from engines to vehicle trim, kids toys to sophisticated medical devices and sensitive instrumentation to valves of many types, the Lee Spring capability to quickly create application-specific springs and spring components such as fourslide parts is putting a spring in the step of UK manufacturing industry.

6th July 2016

Buying by the scoop: The rise of unpackaged grocery shopping

As a business model, selling groceries loose isn't a new-fangled approach. It's what market stalls have done for decades. Farm shops, food cooperatives and organic specialists in particular, continue to test the concept of providing sections, where shoppers can fill reusable containers with everything from flours, cereal, grains and nuts to olive oil, frozen fruit and even laundry detergent.

9th June 2016

Emerging food preservation technology requires precision control

Our ability to preserve food has a long history - with more recent developments being directed by the desire to maintain nutritional value in addition to the original taste and texture of the food. Research in this field within the UK is helping to develop new techniques that can be applied on an industrial scale and one company at the forefront of this field is Campden BRI.

26th May 2016

Tuning into food metal detection frequencies

Metallic inclusions are the number one contaminant in food products, causing product quality and consumer safety issues. Phil Brown, Sales Director of Fortress Technology, looks at the technologies behind effective metal detection, explains the three key frequency options and why it is essential to select the correct frequency for your food application.

12th May 2016

Safety laser scanners: what are the most important requirements?

Leuze electronic is regarded as a pioneer in the field of area scanning distance sensors based on laser scanner technology. Even today, the number of companies that offer such sensors remains relatively small. This is no surprise, as the development of these complex devices requires a great deal of know-how, years of experience and the willingness to pioneer new approaches. What are the most important requirements and where will the next development lead? These questions can easily be answered by considering the new RSL 400 safety laser scanner.

15th April 2016

Technical Articles