This project involved the integration of a second blending line into an existing facility. The new line provides the customer with additional capacity and greater flexibility in daily operation.
The plant combines ergonomic raw material intake, gentle conveying, precise batch preparation, homogeneous blending and direct transfer to the existing packaging process. Existing equipment was also integrated into the new plant concept.
The components for the blends can be fed from bags or big bags. Bags are handled ergonomically with a vacuum tube lifter, transferred from the pallet onto a bag conveyor and transported to the automatic bag emptying machine. The emptied bags are then compacted automatically in a channel baler.
For big bags and larger manual feed quantities, a separate intake hopper is installed. From the intake area, a continuous bucket conveyor transports the products to a buffer bin, which holds the raw material for one complete batch.
The product is then transferred to our horizontal batch blender type RDM 4 with a volume of 4.000 liters. Inside the blender, two counter-rotating mixing screws ensure fast, uniform and gentle blending of the seed components. The blender can also be used for smaller batches from a partial filling level, giving the operator additional flexibility for different lot sizes.
Via the large bottom discharge flap, the finished batch is discharged within seconds into the buffer hopper below. This ensures residue free discharge and avoids segregation after the blending process. From there, the product is conveyed pneumatically to the packaging line.
A smaller existing vertical blender was also included in the overall concept, allowing the customer to continue producing smaller special batches flexibly when required.
A key aspect of the project was the integration of the new blending line into an existing building and production environment. The layout had to be coordinated with available space, existing equipment and the customer’s established packaging process.
The combination of ergonomic bag handling, big bag intake, buffer storage for complete batches and our horizontal batch blender creates a flexible production line. The system increases capacity while maintaining the option to produce smaller batches using the existing vertical blender.
The complete process – from intake to blending and transfer to packaging – was designed as one coordinated plant solution.
