Efficiency and condition monitoring

Claire Rowan is group technical editor, magazines, FoodBev Media. This is a personal blog and views expressed are her own.

I enjoyed some excellent conversations on the SPX stand at Anuga FoodTec where hospitality and insight was offered by six of the company’s representatives.

I met Bent Østergaard, director of global marketing for food and beverage; Irene Constantin, marketing communications manager for EMEA; Marco Calligaro, global product sales manager of separators for SPX Flow Technology Santorso; Suganthan Jeganathan, technology manager; Frank Poulsen, process category sales director; and Erik Dons Sørensen, global process category manager for butter.

It was hard to keep up with the contributions regarding process line efficiency and condition monitoring, which was the focus of our discussions.

Among many solutions developed by SPX is a predictive maintenance tool for critical components in separators that can predict unexpected trouble with the system and therefore help avoid issues before they arise. The IntcomLight tool gives SPX access to specific functioning areas of a separator to allow remote monitoring, via smartphone or laptop, of critical parameters such as vibration, speed, pressure etc. This facility allows adjustments to be made or alerts to be sent to line operators if remedial action is needed. For spray dryers and heat exchangers respectively, the company’s MagnaScan and GapScan solutions allow leaks to be detected without dyes. Leaks and cracks can be detected in far less time than conventional processes and quality restored with far less disruption to the operation of the equipment. A big saving when the value of a day’s production is calculated.

So much more was discussed during my valuable time on the stand and I look forward to writing about further developments in future issues of the FoodBev magazines – but back to the exhibition floor I must go to speak to more companies. Keep watching this space, and twitter for further news from the team here at Anuga FoodTec in Cologne.