Shaken, not stirred cranberries

Producing sweetened dried cranberries (SDC) is a science that Ocean Spray has been working to perfect. From its fourth Craisins line, which started up in May 2006 to its fifth line, scheduled to start up in the autumn of 2007, Ocean Spray relies on sanitary Smart Shaker solutions from Key Technology. Key's versatile Iso-Flo vibratory shakers convey sticky product on the packaging line and handle a wide range of functions on the processing line.

Our goal is to produce the thickest, juiciest, plumpest SDC we can, and Key helps us achieve that goal, said Bob Lowder, manager of Capital Engineering and MRO Programs. Key's willingness to customise equipment, and the expertise of their engineering staff have been instrumental to our success. Ocean Spray maximises product quality and line productivity while producing 4.5 to 5.4 million kilograms of SDC per year on each of its Craisins production lines.

The Iso-Flo vibratory shakers from Key do more than just convey product at Ocean Spray. While moving product between the units of operation that slice, extract, infuse, dry and package, Iso-Flo shakers are used to clean, wash, dewater, de-syrup, size and grade as well as convey. The cranberries have dramatically different characteristics at each stage from frozen product at the start to hot, sticky product after the dryer and each stage requires a unique solution to handling the challenging product.

With Iso-Drive frame-mounted drives and StrongArm spring arm assemblies, Iso-Flo distributes energy to the conveyor bed in a controlled natural-frequency operation. The low-amplitude, high-frequency movement minimises product degradation and reduces maintenance.

For the new line going into Markham, we'll use Key shakers again, noted Lowder. Their technology is clearly at the forefront and we couldn't be happier with them. But we are trying something new in Markham, too we'll be installing Key's new laser sorter. After running two sorters side by side, we decided that Key's Raptor is the right system for us in this application.

The Optyx with Raptor laser technology going into Ocean Spray's Markham facility combines Key's colour cameras and laser technology on one powerful sorting platform. Colour sorting maximises the removal of defects while laser sorting maximises the removal of foreign material. Combining laser sorting with colour sorting achieves high product quality and optimises food safety.