Potato plant standardises roller chain
A
Tsubakimoto UK product story
Edited by the Engineeringtalk editorial team
Oct 23, 2007
There are 25 potato processing and packing lines, all of which will be fitted with Tsubaki replacement roller chain in a variety of sizes.
The Albert Bartlett and Sons potato processing plant in Airdrie Scotland has been the site of a GBP 30m investment over the last four years.
Having operated Tsubaki roller chain supplied by Scots Bearings alongside OEM equipment chain and other branded replacement chain the maintenance team at Bartlett has decided to standardise on Tsubaki roller chain.
Steve McInnes of Scots bearings said "Due to a poor wear life displayed by both OEM and other branded chain in this relatively harsh processing environment we were asked to source a better quality alternative".
"We have now supplied Tsubaki replacement roller chain to the plant for the past two years and it has indeed resulted in extended wear life, resulting in a decision to standardise on Tsubaki replacement chain products".
Rainwater is collected from the factory roof for use in the washing process and dedicated lines enable the water and soil residues washed from local, organic and imported produce to be recycled separately.
The company has also invested in robot technology to improve safety and efficiency and installed Hydro coolers to remove field heat, reducing condensation and naturally extending the shelf life of the new potatoes.
Each potato that passes through the system has it's picture taken at least three times, the images are processed and used to sort potatoes into finely judged quality grades.
One of the main reasons for this level of automation is so that the plant can react quickly to changes in demand.
A 'cold snap' will result in an instant rise in demand for potatoes for example.
The Bartlett packing lines are able to change hoppers and re-start sorting, packing and labelling the new product virtually seamlessly in order to meet tight delivery deadlines with supermarkets.
The speed and time-critical nature of the operation all mean that any maintenance has to be planned for far in advance and the maximum wear life is expected of every component.
If for instance the roller chains that drive the conveyors, drum washers or packaging lines can deliver twelve months additional service life for example, they will have covered any slight premium in cost many times over.
There are 25 potato processing and packing lines, all of which will be fitted with Tsubaki replacement roller chain in a variety of sizes.
The replacement chain is held in consignment stock onsite by Scots Bearings and replaced as and when necessary.
Standard roller chain is used presently, but Tsubaki Lambda lube-free chain is seen a further upgrade possibility on some areas of the plant .
Lube-free Lambda WP water protected chain is being considered for use on the drum washers where stainless chain is currently used.
Not what you're looking for? Search the site.
Google Ads
Contact Tsubakimoto UK
Related Stories
- Ricardo to help develop automatic transmission
- Turbine producer adopts NSK cost-saving programme
- Split roller bearings used on colliery conveyors
- SKF systems boost uptime of Isis neutron choppers
- NSK bearings save costs for carbon-fibre producer
Browse by category
-
Capital Equipment (3,533)
- Capital Equipment (1)
- Compressors and Air Treatment (546)
- Electrical hardware (131)
- Electronics Manufacturing, Tools, Instruments (192)
- Machinery and Production Equipment (1,133)
- Manufacturing Machinery and Plant Equipment (478)
- Production line blowers and fans (74)
- Robotics, Handling and Storage (978)
- Consultancy and Services (927)
-
Control and Instrumentation (5,142)
- Cabling, Conduit, Signal Conditioning (818)
- CNC and Motion Controllers (190)
- Control and Instrumentation (3)
- HMIs/Operator Interfaces (297)
- Logic Controllers, Timers and Relays (96)
- Mid-range and Large PLCs (204)
- Plant- and Machine-Wide Communications (1,210)
- Plantwide control (1,354)
- Power Supplies, Uninterruptible Power (577)
- Smaller-Sized PLCs (393)
-
Drives, Motors and Controls (3,450)
- Drives, Motors and Controls (2)
- Industrial Drives/Controls (1,293)
- Industrial Motors (502)
- Linear Drives and Motors (121)
- Precision Motors and Gears (434)
- Stepper and Servo Drives, Motors, Controls (1,096)
-
Electrical and Electronic Equipment Design (4,327)
- Batteries, chargers and circuit protection (588)
- Connectors, Terminals, Busbars, Slip Rings (724)
- Electrical and Electronic Components (652)
- Electrical and Electronic Equipment Design (4)
- Electrical and Electronic Subassemblies (377)
- Enclosures and Equipment Cooling Fans (722)
- Knobs, Handles and Enclosure Hardware (430)
- PCs and Embedded Systems (830)
-
Engineering Design Software (6,388)
- 2D CAD software (203)
- 3D CAD software (1,199)
- CAM, CNC, production management software (583)
- Data, document management software (324)
- Electrical design software (168)
- Engineering Design Software (17)
- FEA and structural analysis software (377)
- File conversion software, data capture (358)
- Fluid, thermal, noise, vibration software (340)
- Materials design and moulding design software (153)
- Maths, charting, statistics, QA software (325)
- PLM and collaboration software (665)
- Process, instrumentation, automation software (269)
- Publishing and documentation software (234)
- Rendering, visualisation, styling software (208)
- Simulation, modelling, validation software (965)
-
Engineering Industry News, Resources (6,199)
- Electronic Resources for Engineers (273)
- Engineering Business News, Views (388)
- Engineering Conferences (438)
- Engineering Education, Resources, Standards (851)
- Engineering Exhibitions, Events (578)
- Engineering Guides, Newsletters (354)
- Engineering Industry Developments, Awards (635)
- Engineering Industry News, Resources (4)
- Engineering Industry Reports, Surveys (597)
- Engineering Recruitment, Employment (219)
- Engineering Seminars (421)
- Engineering Training Courses (458)
- Health and Safety Consultancy, Software (180)
- Health and Safety Events, Training, News (285)
- Health and Safety Legislation (403)
- Health and Safety Strategy, Risk Assessment (115)
- Machine Building (4,633)
-
Materials and Processing (3,041)
- Materials and components (2,272)
- Materials and Processing (5)
- Materials processing and testing (292)
- Rapid Prototyping (472)
-
Monitoring, Measurement and Quality (5,681)
- Data Acquisition Hardware and PC I/O Boards (491)
- Data acquisition Software and Communications (505)
- Data loggers (428)
- Electrical and Electronic Testing, PAT Equipment (645)
- Form/co-ordinate, optical, vision instruments (766)
- Gauges, Indicators and Instruments (449)
- Materials testing equipment (439)
- Monitoring, Measurement and Quality (1)
- Telecomms/network test equipment, software etc (159)
- Testing and Calibration Services and Information (522)
- Testing, analysing and monitoring equipment (1,276)
-
Powertrain Design (3,723)
- Bearings (986)
- Chains and belts (334)
- Gears, brakes, couplings and engines (1,482)
- Hydraulic Components (475)
- Lubricants (441)
- Powertrain Design (4)
-
Sensors (7,319)
- Accelerometers and Vibration Sensors (450)
- Barcode Sensors (103)
- Flowmeters and Flow Sensors (650)
- Gas, Chemical, Radiation, Magnetic Sensors (294)
- Humidity and Environmental Sensors (158)
- Level Sensors and Leak Detectors (539)
- Linear Position Sensors (417)
- Loadcells, Force Sensors, Torque Sensors (732)
- Pressure sensors (643)
- Proximity Sensors (715)
- Rotary Position, Tilt and Angular Sensors (565)
- Sensors (12)
- Temperature sensors (624)
- Vision and Colour Sensors (1,417)
- Small Mechanical Components, Joining, Tools (2,057)
- Valves, Pumps, Process Hardware (3,732)
