Modular Conveyor System Helps Josephs Lite Cookies Keep Pace with Explosive Market for Healthy Snacks
The trend toward healthier foods has caused a major shift in the food market, resulting in explosive growth for companies that produce wholesome packaged foods. Now that there is universal agreement that obesity is life threatening and on the rise among younger people, there is an overwhelming demand for snacks and desserts that are low fat, low-carb and nutritious
Among the product lines riding the crest of this wave is Joseph’s Lite Cookies (Deming, N. Mex.) Now marketing to 14 countries around the world and available on QVC, the growing popularity and expanding variety of Joseph’s low-carb, sugar-free cookies has created the need to maximize productivity at its 44,000 sq.-ft plant. One of the tools for accomplishing this is a DynaCon modular conveyor system from Dynamic Conveyor Systems (Muskegon, Mich.).
“The DynaCon system is flexible and highly portable,” explains Javier Reyes, Joseph’s plant manager. “Those unique attributes allow us to use the same conveyor system at two different locations in the plant, and to reconfigure the conveyor quickly and easily.”
Today producing three different fat-free and a total of nine sugar-free cookies, the unique flexibility and a myriad of accessories of the DynaCon system make it highly adaptable to Joseph’s growing needs.
“The conveyor system is used to convey products from a form-fill machine onto a table-top conveyor belt that leads into a metal detector that is actually a module of the DynaCon system. The system is light in weight, easily reconfigured and can be wheeled from one location to another in just minutes,” Reyes explains.
The metal detection system, one of many integral and affordable capabilities available with this conveyor system, meets the FDA’s HACCP (Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point) parameters. The conveyor system itself is composed of high-impact plastic, and is absent of metal itself, making metal detection a more insular function.
The polycarbonate construction of this conveyor system also facilitates cleaning. At Joseph’s the conveyor is wiped down quickly and easily using a sprayed-on alcohol-based solution at least twice a day.
Since it is modular, the DynaCon conveyor system can be configured in many shapes and sizes by simply snapping selected modules in place, much like Lego building blocks. It is available with variable-speed drives, which in the case of Joseph’s and many other food suppliers enables critical control of production flow.
The modular design of this conveyor also enables companies to standardize on a system with modules including accessories and replacement parts that can be used interchangeably. Joseph’s Lite Cookies plans on purchasing a second DynaCon system to simplify inventory and maintenance requirements. A new, faster, variable-speed drive will also be purchased to provide greater latitude of speed on the line.
Joseph’s recently reconfigured its conveyor to run at an uphill angle, and incorporated flights on the belt without any interruption in production. Modules such as S-turns, cooling tunnels, water baths and programmable box filling are also available.
Endorsed by National Diabetes Outreach, the low-carb, sugar-free cookies from Joseph's are making dramatic gains in popularity not only among diabetics but also those who prefer nutritious, wholesome foods. This increasing demand has encouraged Joseph’s to broaden its product line, which the tools such as the modular conveyor system will help facilitate.
Many food products producers find that a truly modular conveyor system can not only help streamline and optimize production, but can also incorporate accessories that enhance quality and provide serviceability that increases uptime while lowering maintenance and replacement costs.
DynaCon customers today include companies who harvest fruits, packaged foods, seasonings, candy and other major segments – all of which place a high value on the flexibility, standardization, serviceability and system integration aspects of this unique material handling system.