The Pet food processing industry has witnessed significant growth in the last few years, according to FPSA, Pet Food Processing Equipment Market Forecast to 2026. The study states that the growth is due to an increase in pet ownership and adoption rate and a rise in urbanization across developing countries. The changing consumer trends such as demand for nutritious alternatives and high-quality pet food and proteins have further led to changes in the pet food equipment industry.
Market trends and overall growth have led Mepaco to engineer more systems for pet food manufacturers. This blog highlights a bin formulation system that Mepaco has manufactured for numerous pet food processors. The bin system utilizes on-demand controls to provide around-the-clock formulation. The core equipment in this system are the Clean-Sweep Metering Conveyor, Belt Conveyors, and Load Cells.
CLEAN-SWEEP METERING SCREW CONVEYORS with SURGE LOADING CAPABILITIES
Clean Sweep Metering Screws provide the surge loading benefits required to fulfill production goals in the batch formulation system. The equipment is custom designed as part of a lineup in a bin configuration. Each hopper supplies different ingredients for the (mass scale) pet food production line.
Ruggedly built for continuous operation, the Clean-Sweep hopper design offers an off-set agitator that clears product from the hopper between batches.
LOAD CELLS
LIW (loss in weight) Load cells are used to measure product displacement over a given time. LIW Load Cells provide a highly accurate way to utilize metering screw conveyors and provide processing efficiencies since all ingredients are delivered simultaneously.
Downstream equipment such as mixers, blenders, or cookers signal the raw material in a given SKU. The screw conveyors deliver the correct quantity of product required through the primary grinder and then to the batching bins for final formulation.
BELT CONVEYORS
Belt conveyors deliver ingredients on-demand to the exact bin position with versatility and deliver formulated products to downstream operations.
This processing line reduced labor and eliminated downtime with continuous, around-the-clock large batch production: utilizing real-time material availability and on-demand formulation.
This animation demonstrates the modifiable Batching Bin System.
Pre-broken frozen food products (red meat, fish, chicken, vegetables) are delivered to a designated surge loader on a traversing belt which locates the exact drop position. Once the recipe is established and the demand is made, the applicable surge loader(s) deliver product. Load cells are used to measure product displacement over a given time (loss-in-weight method). Mix tanks, blenders or cookers signal for the raw materials in a given SKU and the surge loading metering screw conveyors will deliver the correct dosage of product required through the primary grinder and then to the batch for final formulation.
Contact our technical sales representatives for questions and a personal virtual tour of this system!
Problem
A Pet Food Processor needed to increase throughput due to production delays in waiting for grinders feeding directly to blenders.
Solution
Mepaco engineered a solution that placed surge loaders between the grinder and the blender, allowing the processor to accumulate and stage a full batch of products to be fed into the blender. This system allows the processor to select different volumes of products from a fresh grinder and a frozen block grinder, and feed them together into the surge loader. As soon as the downstream blender is empty, the surge loader quickly refills the blender to begin the next batch.
An integral piece of equipment is the Screw Elevator. This equipment was designed with CIP (clean-in-place) spray ball. It features a fixed based with an elevated pivot track to reduce sanitation time.
Another vital piece of equipment are the specialty loaders. These hoppers were designed with extended side walls for high capacity loading.
Product staging and storage was a key factor in getting the maximum throughput from this grind/blend system. This solution saves valuable minutes off each batch that would be spent waiting if the grinders were to directly feed a blender.
Mepaco, part of Apache Stainless, is known for grinding and blending systems. Equipment products, which are customized for the application, include thermal processing solutions, mixers, blenders, cookers, augers, dumpers, sanitary conveyors and material handling systems.
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