Directionless finishing crucial for GEA Food Solutions

Making packaging machines is high tech. Just ask Allard van Haaften of GEA Food Solutions. The multinational company's machine factory in Weert specializes in machines for bagging food and lollipop machines (both to make them, and to pack them). A directionless finish is desired for these packaging machines.

An engineer from GEA Food Solutions is fine-tuning a lollipop packaging machine. If he would like to give a demonstration, asks Allard van Haaften. He is responsible for supply chain & operations at GEA Food Solutions. "We are testing, we are now at a fraction of capacity." Nonetheless, the lollipop packaging machine mitrails packed lollipops into a collection tray. And it can do it faster. "We make between 800 and 1,400 lollipops per minute," says Van Haaften. "That number depends a little bit on the shape and size of the lollipops."

Worldwide

GEA is one of the world's leading suppliers of machinery and systems for food processing technology and related industries. The company employs more than 18,000 people and is located in 62 countries. At the Technology Center in Weert, it is clear that high-speed packaging is no easy task. But whether it is packaging chicken, nuts, lettuce, candies, French fries or lollipops; GEA has a solution.

Easy to clean

How do they make the machines in Weert? Part of the basis is stainless steel sheet metal. That comes in and goes to the laser cutting machine. After the sheets have gone through the laser cutting machines, they are further processed in a Timesavers 32 RB series. Van Haaften: "The machines we make are largely made of stainless steel and anodized aluminum, because they have to be easy to clean. You don't want to encounter any residue from a machine in a food product. Parts have to be well flat, fully deburred."

Timesavers machine

GEA Food Solutions has chosen the "32 RB series" after careful selection. The 32 RB series is the compact dry wide belt sander for deburring, edge rounding, finishing and/or laser oxide removal. "We looked primarily for a machine that would allow us to finish as smoothly as possible," says Van Haaften. "Products come out of the laser cutter, are tapped - when necessary - and are finished in the Timesavers machine. The finished products come through the belt onto a return table. The return table is proving to be very value-added because it allows us to ensure that the machine is employable by many people working around the machine. Further down the assembly line, the machines are assembled into full-fledged food packaging devices."

Directionless

Van Haaften emphasizes that directionless finishing is important. "A machine that you don't finish directionless simply doesn't look nice. If you finish the sheet metal directionless, it doesn't matter how you put the sheets in the Timesaver. Also, you don't want deep surface scratches because then the plate gets dirty faster and is harder to clean. This is a no-go when working with food products."

Meeting the needs

GEA Food Solutions has now had the Timesavers 32 RB series at its disposal for a year. "Within a week everyone was able to operate the machine flawlessly. Together with Timesavers, we examined how we could replace the existing machine with one that could both finish directionless and process very small parts. The promise was then made that we could finish a euro in terms of size. That turned out to be possible without any problems. Then we went to the factory together with lasered parts and did tests: how fast does the machine go, what grain size should we choose? That way, with the help of Timesavers, we chose what would suit us best."

Brush selection

It was precisely in the area of brush selection and brush pressure that Timesavers' expertise came in handy; GEA Food Solutions is an expert in packaging machinery, among other things, but not in deburring. "We make a lot of single-piece operations and there is a lot of variation with that. For us, the question was whether we could nevertheless use the same settings as much as possible. The sheets we process are generally between 1 mm and 3 mm thick. Sometimes we have pieces of 5 millimeters. Normally for finishing we just use the brushes and very occasionally a pre-grinding belt. You only need the pre-grinding belt if you need to get rid of a big burr. But rather not, because a grinding belt makes streaks anyway. And for us there is no discussion: we want directionless."