Page 16 - AMEFT Journal 2021-4

FOCUS: CONFECTIONERY & SNACKS
Unmatched sorting technology
TOMRA’s sorting technologies can inspect materials flowing down a con- fectionery production line according to their color, shape, and product charac- teristics. Four sorters are particularly well-suited to confectionery applica- tions: the Genius and its successor, the TOMRA 5B, both belt machines, and the Blizzard and Nimbusfree-fall machines. Belt machines are generally most suitable for distinguishing the shapes of objects on the line and for hard candies that might be too frag- ile to land from a free-fall. Free-fall machines, which scan and separate objects in flight, are better suited to looking for discolorations. Both types of machines can be located on the line before or after the product is oiled, depending on the factory layout. Even though oiling can make the product sticky and sorting trickier, TOMRA’s machines nevertheless perform with unrivaled effectiveness.
The machine best suited to smaller confectionery production facilities, be- cause of its entry-level price and small footprint, is the Blizzard. This free-fall sorter does its detection work with pulsed LEDs and a combination of cam- eras, with a lighting system that needs very little calibration or maintenance. The LED’s different wavelengths detect foreign material, misshapen product, and discolored product.
The Genius belt sorter also employs high-resolution cameras but combines these with advanced laser technolo
The optical sorting machines offered by industry-leader TOMRA Food can be relied upon to detect and
eject foreign materials, cross-contamination, product clumping, and malformed products.
gies. The Genius’ successor, the TOM- RA 5B, employs on-belt 360-degree- surround cameras, a laser, and off-belt cameras. Capable of distinguishing the color, structure, and shape of objects on the line, these belt machines de- tect cross-contamination, starch, and foreign materials, as well as identify- ing clumping and misshapen products. These machines are particularly well- suited to the North American market, where confectionery factories tend to focus on a single product and require foreign object detection to be supple- mented by challenging shape analysis.
The Nimbusfree-fall machine stands out for its capability to sort different products - such as sugar-free, with- sugar, and multivitamin sweets - with a variety of programs and applications on the same platform. This machine inspects product with specific laser technologies and combinations, and
sorts according to color, surface struc- ture, and outline, with the ability to detect starch, foreign materials, and cross contamination. The Nimbus is in demand in European markets, where factories produce a variety of confec- tioneries and need to guarantee their customers a product free of cross-con- tamination.
Cloud power enhances sorting capabilities
All of TOMRA’s sorting platforms are connectable to TOMRA Insight, a web- based data platform that gathers sort- ing data in near real-time and stores this securely in the cloud. Live data can be reacted to immediately (and re- motely) to optimize machine settings; historical data can be processed into actionable information to unlock im- provements in machine performance.
The extent of these improvements varies according to the type of food product being processed, but the po- tential is huge. Downtime can be re- duced by monitoring machine health, supporting the management of predic- tive and condition-based maintenance, and preventing unscheduled machine shutdowns. Throughput can be maxi- mized by evaluating throughput varia- tions to optimize sorting equipment. Operating costs can be reduced by identifying gaps in production and ana- lyzing root causes. And sorting to tar- get quality can be enhanced by having accurate material-composition data. Such data analysis will become increasingly
16 AMEFT 4 2021
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(Source: TOMRA)