Food industry

The problem

Food production involves a great deal of handling – from receiving and dosing raw materials, through supplying production equipment, to packing, palletising and the internal logistics of finished products.

Sacks of flour, sugar, milk powder and other ingredients have to be lifted and emptied into process equipment, powdered and granular raw materials conveyed to mixers and containers, and boxes, buckets, drums and other packaging moved between the stages of production. At the end of the process the finished product has to be stacked, palletised and prepared for storage or dispatch again.

At the same time, the requirements for hygiene, contamination control and easy cleaning of equipment are far higher than in most other industries. The equipment must therefore be adapted to the specific production environment, the type of product and the hygiene regime.

When much of this work is done by hand, the result is repetitive lifting, greater physical strain on operators, spilled material and needless bottlenecks in the production process.

How we solve it

Handling sacks, boxes and other loads

Vacuum lifters and mobile lifting equipment take the weight of sacks, boxes, buckets and other products. They are used when emptying sacks into process equipment, moving loads between workstations, palletising and depalletising, and in other repetitive handling. For hygienically demanding areas, versions and grippers adapted to food production can be used.

Vacuum conveying of powdered and granular raw materials

Flour, sugar, milk powder, spices, granulates and other bulk raw materials can be conveyed through a closed vacuum system from an emptying station or container directly to a mixer, sieve, mill, blender or other process equipment. This reduces manual pouring, spillage and dust in the production area.

Lifting, tilting and emptying containers and drums

Specialised lifting and handling equipment allows crates, containers, bins and drums to be transported, lifted, positioned, tilted and emptied safely. Drums can be gripped, lifted from the floor or a pallet, moved to process equipment and, where needed, tilted or emptied in a controlled way. This reduces the need to handle heavy and awkward containers by hand.

Handling rolls of packaging material

Film, paper, labels and other packaging materials in the food industry often come as heavy rolls that have to be brought to the packaging machine and fitted precisely on a shaft or other mounting. Mobile lifting equipment lifts the roll from a pallet or the floor, transports it, turns it from horizontal to vertical or vice versa and positions it precisely on the machine. This makes roll changes easier and reduces the physical strain on operators.

From the delivery of raw materials and supply of production lines to packing and palletising – we tailor our solutions to the characteristics of the product, hygiene requirements and the specifics of each production process.