Handling
Materials handling, unpacking, storage
Objective
Materials handling applies to the receipt, storage and internal conveying of raw materials, intermediate products and final products.
Field of application
All sectors.
Description of techniques, methods and equipment
a) Solid Materials
Solid materials are commonly delivered in bags stocked on pallets or in containers (big-bags). They may also be delivered in a frozen state, packed in standardised blocks with carton linings. They are transported with forklift trucks and stored in a store. Larger amounts of solid raw materials and powders are mostly delivered in bulk. These are off-loaded directly for processing or stored in silos for future use. Solid raw materials can be conveyed by water (e.g. as is the case of vegetables, roots, tubers), by air (e.g. as is the case of solid particles, powder) or by conveyer belts and elevators, screw conveyors and pumps.
b) Liquids
Liquid raw materials are delivered in bulk tankers and then pumped into storage tanks. The internal transport of liquid is achieved by pumping the liquid through piping systems, which can be extensive and complex. Smaller quantities of liquids are also delivered in mini-bulk containers or in drums. These are then transported with forklift trucks and kept in an appropriate store.
c) Gases
Gases like N2, CO2 and SO2 are delivered and stored in special pressurised containers. When they are required they are connected to the system concerned and transported through the piping system by pressure differences. Some examples of gas use are SO2 in the processing of sugar and in wine making, and N2 and CO2 in packaging and chilling.
Fluidor Equipment
Fluidor Equipment Ltd. is a Dutch machine building company with a leading position on the global market for drum handling and intermediate bulk container handling systems.
Fluidor Equipment supplies customers in 75 countries with proprietary systems that are widely used to handle, defrost and empty intermediate bulk containers containing food products like frozen fruit juices, concentrates, honey and tomato paste. The Fluidor drum handling systems optimize production efficiency while minimizing the need for manual work forces.
Efficient and profitable
The foundation of the current success of Fluidor Equipment Ltd. was created in the seventies, when the company was approached by a local producer of fruit juices to develop a machine that would help to empty barrels containing frozen fruit juice concentrates. Cees Kuijper, International Sales Manager Fluidor Equipment: “In those years, the barrels used to be emptied by hand. That was a time-consuming, labor-intensive and unhygienic process. Our first drum handling systems that could safely pick up and automatically empty the barrels became an instant success and opened doors to the international food industry. Obviously, our handling systems have become a lot more efficient since those early years.”
Product Recovery with Fluivac: clean and sustainable, preserving product
Modern industrial food industries demand for safe, reliable, user-friendly and sustainable systems that are also easy cleanable. Additionally, food producing companies want to minimize product loss. By developing a new system for the automatic emptying of closed production process tubes, Fluidor Equipment managed to create a new global product recovery standard.
Kuijper: “When exclusively applying conventional CIP-techniques, the products that remain in the pipelines is irrevocably lost. Not so with Fluivac, that comprises of an intelligent central control unit that can be coupled with any existing production tubes. The unit starts up a product recovery process, generating spinning airflows within the tubes that only need a limited amount of water to effectively recover the remaining product while realizing an effective pre-cleaning phase. Fluivac helps you to utilize your food product, time, water and energy resources in the most effective way possible.”
For a comprehensive overview of all Fluidor products and services, please visit: http://www.fluidor.com.
