Lynchborough-GPM was approached in 2002 to design, supply and install a simple mixing system to consist of manual hand additions into a 1m3 capacity ribbon mixer to discharge into a packing machine. Prior to this, product was mixed in drums and hand packed.
Lynchborough-GPM set out to design a system to achieve this whilst keeping some key objectives in mind. Design a system to fit within the clients budget, operator friendly, achieve in excess of expected production output, low maintenance and most importantly to design the system to fit a ‘Master Plan’ - a future plan to enable the plant to be semi-automated and expandable.
Since then Lynchborough-GPM has worked closely with the client on many further upgrades to the point now of achieving the initial ‘Master Plan’ which includes three mixing lines automatically batched & weighed via ‘gain in weight systems’. Ingredients are batched from a 35 tonne bulk sugar silo, three bulk bag dischargers for macro ingredients and dedicated hand dumping stations for minor ingredients. Bulk materials are vacuum transferred to the weigh hoppers. Intermediate Bulk Containers (IBCs) are utilised for moving batches of finished product to a storage area and then onto the packing room which now consists of six packing lines including eight IBC discharge stations.
In 2010 the client outgrew their existing facility and planned their move to a custom designed new premises with a vision to be able to work with a wider range of small and medium enterprises and multi-nationals.
Considerable design time was spent by Lynchborough-GPM closely involving the client to achieve the optimal plant layout for their new facility to give the most efficient product flow though the plant. Lynchborough-GPM then undertook the relocation over the Christmas shutdown period which included designing and constructing a new purpose built structural framework for the batching & blending plant. Although support steelwork seems unimportant to the process and is often overlooked this was specifically conceptualised to achieve a ‘clean design’. The main frame work, being portal design, is integrated into the walls. The mezzanine floors are clear span through each room therefore eliminating bracing or columns within each room. This clear floor design results in the day-to-day cleaning of the batching and blending rooms being much quicker and easier and also results in a greatly reduced risk of cross-contamination with less places for dust to settle. All conveying lines and services are located outside the rooms or inside the steelwork and only have localised penetrations at termination points.
Also during the relocation the blending lines were installed into their own dedicated rooms with separate conveying systems to reduce cross-contamination and improve product changeover and cleaning time. Each line can be shut down for cleaning while the remaining plant can continue operating.
The entire batching & blending plant is full SCADA computer controlled including links to management software and direct recipe download.
The ‘Master Plan’ has now expanded to a new level. Designed into the new facility is space for a future automated Macro/Micro ingredients batching system, raw material further processing and a fourth specialised blending line.
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Bulk Materials Handling and Processing Systems
