In the following case study, a leading Japanese manufacturer of nutritional therapy foods improved quality monitoring and reduced cleaning time at its facility thanks to a hopper system designed by BFM®.
The Japanese nutrition manufacturer produces powdered formulations for patients with swallowing disorders and those requiring tube feeding.
Maintaining hygiene at the facility is a top priority. The company sought to improve the monitoring of its powder production and optimise its cleaning processes. It also wanted to eliminate powder leaking into the plant from a free-fall hopper transition. But this proved difficult with its existing setup of fully steel hoppers, buffer tanks and traditional clamped sleeves.
Seeking a versatile and hygienic solution, the manufacturer turned to the BFM® fitting connector system.
The Challenge
The plant used 840L steel buffer tanks that often encountered clogging, bridging and ratholing problems that were difficult to clear.
There was no product flow visibility to alert the operators to bridging or ratholing. These large steel tanks also required cleaning once per month, which involved a difficult removal, relocation and replacement process that took four days and multiple staff.
In addition to the buffer tanks, the company had a problem with dust leaking from a hopper connection under a vacuum conveyor. The powdered product was being fed into the hopper via freefall with just a short, one-ended clamped connector surrounding the product flow. This meant the product was not fully contained and leaked into the production area, causing a health and safety concern.
The BFM® Solution
The local BFM® fitting distributor designed a two-piece hopper system using BFM®’s durable, transparent Seeflex 040E polyurethane. The customer now has constant visibility of the product flow, and the anti-static nature of the material has helped reduce powder adhering to the walls of the hopper.
Any blockages can be easily seen and manually remedied by massaging the flexible walls of the tapered connector to free up the product flow.
Cleaning time has also been significantly reduced as it now requires only one person who can easily remove and transport the flexible connectors to the cleaning area.
On the other hopper connection, a BLUEBAND™ connector system was installed to fully encase the gravity feed powder, providing a 100 per cent sealed system, improving hygiene for both product and staff.
“We undertook lots of product tests on various options before deciding on changing to the BFM® fitting system. The transparency of the new hopper system lets us visually see the product and detect any issues before they become a problem. The ease of removal and refitting has also made our regular cleaning processes much more efficient.” – Maintenance Manager
BFM® fitting is the world-leading snap-in flexible connector technology that has over 50 distributors around the world. ProSpare Ltd is authorised distributor for BFM® fitting in UK; it has a team dedicated to helping customers get the most from the BFM® range, including field-based application and technical assistance.
