The global supplier of food processing equipment said its new SpeedSort works based on the signal guidance it receives from the other equipment in a Marel processing line, thus ensuring the best possible control of production flow.
Jesper Hjortshøj, product marketing manager at the company, told FoodProductionDaily.com that the retraction belt was developed to address a reject problem at one of its installations in a chicken processing facility in France.
He said that the SpeedSort can be placed after a I-Cut 22 PortionCutter where it rejects head trim from chicken fillets before infeed to a RoboBatcher for fixed weight tray packing: “By opening and closing so quickly, the SpeedSort is capable of rejecting trim both from the front and the back end of a single chicken fillet.”
According to Hjortshøj, the installation using SpeedSort in France is running 100 items per minute on a dual lane version of the retraction conveyor.
He said the new equipment can also be used with white fish or salmon processing lines, while the simple placement of a container underneath the drop down section enables the manufacture to gather the trim for use in other products.
The retraction conveyor, maintains Hjortshøj, is labour saving as it eliminates the needs for multiple operators on the line per shift, and in this way offers manufacturers a quick return on investment (ROI).
He added that it has an accessible structure that enables easy cleaning:
“The machine is very simple in terms of design and has close ball bearings to reduce the amount of grime on the surface.
“The conveyor is sloped to enable effective washdown and, in addition, the fact that there is little sensitive electronic equipment integrated into its structure means it can also sustain high pressure hosing to ensure it complies with rigorous hygiene standards.”