Hygienic milk powder packing

Chronos BTH has recently installed and commissioned a high-accuracy bagging and palletising system for milk powder sector company Emmi Milch, Switzerland.

The bagging system features a hygienic design, accurate operation and an ability to change products quickly, which is vital given the large number of powders to be packed. It was also necessary for Chronos BTH to overcome limited space challenges on the production site.

The Emmi factory produces a diverse range of milk powder derivatives, such as whey powders and permeate, all of which are hygroscopic, dusty and sticky; and a challenge to handle. Gerold Schatt, Head of the Dagmersellen factory, said: “We opted for Chronos BTH due to the ground clearance of the filling line as well as the filling and closing concept.”

An OMLH-1030 BF hygienic bagging system is the key piece of equipment for this project. Its design automatically picks up and places the open-mouth bags, which are multi-ply, cross-bottom bags with polyethylene liners, onto the filling spout. An integral vertical dosing screw ensures that dust emissions are kept to a minimum during both main and fine-feed filling cycles.

Filled bags are removed via an indexing conveyor; during this bag transportation phase before it is presented for de-aeration, the bag top remains closed. A combination of de-aeration probes and agitators on the conveyor optimise removal of excess air from each bag.

At the next part of the process, the bag mouth is stretched and prepared for sealing, while top air is carefully pressed out of each bag. Bag closure is completed through a combination of impulse heat sealing and the Chronos BTH double fold over tapping system, which complement each other to minimise potential moisture ingress into the filled bags.

For additional security, sealed bags pass through integral metal detection and checkweighting systems, with any rejected bags being removed before they enter the gripper head of the specially configured palletiser via an inclined conveyor.

The palletiser is rated at 600 bags/h and a series of palletising programs ensures that all of the Emmi bagged products are palletised in the optimum manner to suit their individual requirements. An automatic wrapper completes the automation of the bagging process and it can also offer six different wrapping programs.

Currently, the packing system is operating on a two-shift system and is rated at 200 bags/h, packing products with individual filling weights of between 10 and 50 kg.

All the equipment is EHEDG (European Hygienic Engineering & Design Group) compliant and all of the processing modules are designed to provide Emmi with optimum filling accuracy in a hygienic and cost-effective manner.

Chronos BTH is a subsidiary of Premier Tech Ltd.