Cornflakes production: Residue-free traceability

Customer:	Nordgetreide
Extracted material:	Laser smoke
Industry:	Food
Vacuum cleaner:	DS 1220 FS (DustEx)

Nordgetreide GmbH & Co. KG manufactures high-quality milled products and cereals under the motto “We make grains delicious. Founded as a mill in Lübeck in 1966, the company became a consumer goods manufacturer after it designed a breakfast cereal product line. The company operates its own corn mill in Lübeck, allowing it to control its entire supply chain.  

Initially consumer products were manufactured exclusively in Falkenhagen, where Nordgetreide built a state-of-the-art production facility in 2001. In 2005, the corporate group in Überherrn/ Saarland launched operation of another modern cereal plant.

Problem

The labelling system, which ensures product traceability, was converted from a stamping process to laser etching on all three production lines. This type of label is more legible, more flexible and more economical. The only problem is that the laser removes a tiny amount of the substrate material when the code is applied. This “brand” smells unpleasant and can be a health hazard, depending on the base material, so it needs to be extracted.

Since Nordgetreide already had mobile and stationary vacuum cleaners from Ruwac in use, the plant engineers turned to Ruwac once again with this task.

Solution

In theory the installation – three suction points on three production lines – seemed to call for a central vacuum system. But closer analysis revealed that there were disadvantages to this too. If the vacuum system had to be shut down, due to a fault or for servicing for example, all three lines would be brought to a standstill. Also, a three-stage control system would be needed in case only one or two lines were working. And finally, the ducting lines would be relatively long, increasing the cost of installation.  

So, attention shifted to a decentralised vacuum system with three standalone units. Calculations showed that Nordgetreide would have to pay only slightly more for this option, but would benefit from greater flexibility and availability. They were presented with three DS 1220 FS vacuum cleaners, that were specially developed to vacuum fine and very fine dusts. Their design features include, for instance, a low vacuum pressure of 125 mbar and a filter with a specialised surface coating that prevents particles from penetrating the filter medium. Nordgetreide uses the dust explosion-proof DS 1220 FS version, because cereal products – like all organic dusts – are flammable in certain air/dust concentrations.

  Nordgetreide's plant engineers are completely satisfied with the vacuum cleaners. The devices are failsafe and quiet, and generate only low operating costs.