Dry Processing SOLUTIONS
CASE STUDY TRANSYLVANIA VOCATIONAL SERVICES AARON HAND | EXECUTIVE EDITOR
Bagger Helps Dry Milk Packager Meet Food Bank Demand With a new contract to serve increasing food pantry needs amid the pandemic, the maker of ready-to-eat foods and various powdered products chose a VFFS bagger and auger combination to help improve efficiency as well as sanitation.
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BILITYONE IS A U.S. GOVERNMENT program that employs more than 42,000 individuals who are blind or have significant disabilities. During the COVID-19 pandemic, many of the non-profits that work with the program saw exponential growth in demand, especially for personal protective equipment (PPE) and sanitizing products. There was also high demand on food banks during the pandemic, with an estimated one in six Americans facing hunger. Transylvania Vocational Services (TVS), founded in 1967 to provide meaningful employment to people with disabilities, employs 209 people at its plant in Brevard, N.C. The company packages ready-to-eat foods and various powdered products and distributes them to food banks, military bases, and others in need throughout the world. Thanks to an AbilityOne contract with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), TVS needed to increase production of its instant non-fat dry milk to better serve the food banks. To do this, TVS needed to replace its obsolete bagging system with something more efficient. “We needed additional packaging capacity to keep up with a growth in demand while trying to stay within an existing building footprint,” says Steve Green, director of plant operations for TVS. “We were using intermittent motion pouch filling equipment that had become obsolete from a service and parts standpoint.” After considering several options, TVS turned to Triangle Package Machinery. TVS also needed to find a system with improved sanitation. As a government contractor of ready-to-eat foods, TVS needs to meet 3-A Sanitary Standards. The manufacturer chose Triangle’s Model XYRJ vertical form/fill/seal (VFFS) bagger and an auger from Spee-Dee Packaging Machinery, both of which offer 3-A certification.
PHOTO COURTESY OF TRIANGLE PACKAGE MACHINERY
Capable of multiple package styles Designed and introduced by Triangle in 2015, Model XYRJ can run a wide variety of bag styles, including three-sided seal, stand-up pouch, pillow, gusseted, flat bottom, and zippered bags. The bagger’s easily rotatable sealing jaw allows packagers to run multiple package styles on the same machine. Additional benefits include ease of setup and maintenance, better product flow, improved sanitation, and better production. The machine is designed to operate with milk powder in the air, and also for full washdown. For TVS, the fact that Triangle baggers include Rockwell Automation controls and servo motors was also beneficial. “Model XYRJ is built with a solid stainless-steel frame, equipped with Allen-Bradley PLCs, utilized continuous motion engineering for the desired throughput, and possessed the needed 3-A sanitary design rating,” Green says. www.profoodworld.com
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Thanks to a new AbilityOne contract, Transylvania Vocational Services needed to increase production of its instant nonfat dry milk to better serve food banks.
| August 2021 | PROFOOD WORLD
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7/22/21 9:10 AM
