Spiroflow, a manufacturer of dry ingredients conveying and bulk bag handling equipment, has received additional orders from Eight O’Clock Coffee after it initially designed a customized conveying solution to support a new high-speed packaging system at its plant.
Eight O’Clock Coffee used the automated Cableflow Tubular Drag Conveying system supplied by Spiroflow for transferring coffee from multiple roasters at the touch of a button, and it purchased two more of the conveyors.
Maintaining the quality and consistency of ingredients while in transit through a factory environment is vital to ensure that the end product is in mint condition for packaging and distribution, which is why the hot beverages supplier turned to a conveying system from Spiroflow.
It gently moves whole bean and ground coffee to the packaging line at a rate of over 4.5 tons per hour.
“Tubular drag conveying is a slow moving system that allows us to gently convey a lot of coffee,” said Eight O’Clock Coffee plant manager Richard Holiday.
He appreciated the tubular drag conveyor’s ability to make directional changes, its slide gates that allow material to go to several different machines, its gentle conveying for whole beans, and its clean-out cylinder.
This cylinder allows the coffee to be easily drained into a tote without having to connect pipes, drains or hoses like the previous system required.
Machine features
Previously, the coffee plant had been using mechanical and dilute-phase pneumatic conveyors to move whole bean and ground coffee from roasters to the packaging equipment.
The addition of the new packaging equipment required an additional conveying system that could transfer coffee from 11 roasters to bagger hoppers above the packaging equipment while minimizing material degradation.
Designed to fit into the existing plant footprint, the conveying system runs with minimal operator interaction for optimum productivity, eliminates dust in compliance with OSHA, improves sanitary operations with advanced handling techniques and provides Eight O’Clock Coffee with a rapid return on its investment.
Spiroflow has supplied six tubular drag conveyors to Eight O’Clock Coffee, which utilize 304 stainless steel cables with ultra high molecular weight polyethylene discs and are fitted with Spiroflow’s patented Dynamic Automatic Rope Tensioning system, which maximizes cable life and minimizes operator maintenance.
The conveyors and process equipment are fully automated and integrated with a central controller, allowing remote control and monitoring of the entire process from one location.
Using the controller interface, an operator enters the code for one of the company’s coffee products and pushes the start button.
The controller then automatically opens and closes the necessary valves, and the conveying system moves the beans or ground coffee through the production process from the roaster to the packaging system.
