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Seeing the benefits of automation

22 July 2022

Find out how Goya Foods has increased productivity with the help of automated bulk bag dischargers at a new facility. 

US-based Goya Foods imports ingredients from around the world to create a range of Latin cuisine. In 2015, the company opened its new headquarters and distribution center in New Jersey. The new site is four times larger than the previous facility and relieves several long-standing bottlenecks. 

Luis Valencia, plant engineer at Goya Foods, explains: “We had run out of capacity for rice mixtures at our previous site. In fact, all of the existing lines, including the bean and flour lines, were over-utilised.”

To prevent supply disruptions, Goya continued operating all 12 of its rice, bean and flour lines at the previous site while outfitting the new site with a high-speed pouch filling rice line, and more efficient bulk handling and packaging equipment, including 16 bulk bag and rigid tote IBC discharger systems from by Flexicon. “We had Flexicon equipment here already, so we knew they were reliable systems,” said Valencia. “Our processes are relatively uncomplicated, so the simpler the process, the higher our efficiency must be. We are always looking to increase quality, safety and efficiency.” 

Goya receives rice, beans, dry vegetables and flour in 998kg bulk bags, while the spice mixtures are mixed into rigid 498kg totes. Ingredients are batched to the packaging machines by gain-in-weight control.
 
To increase productivity, Goya needed to accelerate its handling of bulk bags. The new bulk bag dischargers load bags quickly by means of a cantilevered I-beam, hoist and trolley which allows just two forklift drivers to serve the site’s 16 bulk bag dischargers. A single operator can load and discharge bulk bags across several product lines. 

To match the production capacity of a new high speed pouch filler for rice mixes, Goya installed a gain-in-weight batching system for the rice, vegetable and spice components. For rice, palletised bulk bags are delivered by fork truck to side-by-side BFC bulk bag dischargers that unload into two large 2,268kg capacity floor hoppers. The hoppers feed a common 6m long bucket conveyor leading to a weigh hopper which empties into the pouch filler. Each discharger unloads a 998kg bulk bag of rice in four minutes.

Similarly, dry vegetables move from their respective bulk bag discharger to the pouch filler via bucket conveyor and weigh hopper. Each weigh hopper rests on load cells that transmit weight-gain signals to a controller that stops each conveyor once the target weight is reached for each ingredient.

Spices for the rice mixes are supplied in rigid totes, which are hoisted above a half frame discharger mounted on a 1,134kg capacity hopper. From the hopper outlet, a flexible screw conveyor, also from Flexicon, is inclined at 32°, moving the spices to a weigh hopper which discharges to the pouch filler.

A flexible screw designed for difficult-to-handle spices rotates within a polymer outer tube of the flexible screw conveyor. The screw is the only moving part contacting material and is driven beyond the point of discharge, preventing material contact with seals or bearings. 

“Goya Foods Secaucus has received a British Retail Consortium A++ rating,” said Valencia. “In this case the conveyor is sanitised daily by disconnecting the flexible screw from the drive shaft and removing the screw for cleaning.”

High capacity
The bean line deploys six BFC model bulk bag dischargers, mounted over 2,268kg capacity floor hoppers and arranged in three pairs. Each pair shares a bucket conveyor that feeds a weigh hopper which discharges into a pillow-bag packaging machine.

The flour line employs three bulk bag dischargers, each with bag activator plates that increasingly raise and lower opposite bottom edges of the bag on timed cycles, ultimately forming a steep ‘V’ shape to promote total discharge. 

Goya packages products of 50 different varieties of beans and 30 different flours. Each has slightly different flow characteristics. “We change over constantly, and when you change a bean or a flour or a rice mix, there’s a lot of fine-tuning,” said Valencia. “It’s a challenge – the higher the speed, the more precision is required. Flexicon helped us upgrade the electronics to ensure the dischargers are feeding correctly and the controls are reading the hopper levels correctly,” concluded Valencia.


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