Manufacturer Utilizes Extra Duty Power Pusher® to Safely and Remotely Unload Pet Food From Cooking Vessel
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Shakopee, MN-December 18, 2008-For a pet food manufacturing facility in South Dakota, producing a quality product while maintaining a safe, efficient environment is key. To meet these goals, the company uses a modified Extra Duty Power Pusher®, by Power Pusher®, a division of Nu-Star Inc., to unload food from the cooking vessel.
Pet food in 6,000 to 8,000 pound batches is packaged into 3, 5.5, or 13 ounce cans prior to the cooking process. Since the cans are sealed early on in the process, the risk of contamination is minimized. Plus, the meat, which is made into a slurry form, is easier to handle when it is run through a filler and put into containers.
Once the pet food is packaged, the cans are loaded into 3 x 3 x 3 foot metal baskets that, when full, are loaded into the cooking vessel. In order to safely remove baskets from the cylinder shaped retorts where the pet food is cooked, the company relies on the Extra Duty Power Pusher.
"Our biggest concern is safety," a company representative said. "For this reason, we don't allow people to enter the cooking vessels. The Power Pusher makes this possible."
An Extra Duty Power Pusher designed to push, pull, and maneuver wheeled and semi-wheeled loads of up to 15,000 pounds is custom built for this application with remote control features that allow workers to operate the equipment while remaining a safe distance from the hot, confined space.
Operators stand at the entrance of the vessel and maneuver the Power Pusher directly in front of the baskets, which are then pushed out of the retort after cooking the product.
"It is similar to a bumper pad in front of the crate pusher. Once the operator places the Power Pusher up to the crate, it can be pushed through the retort via a remote control," the company representative said.
Inside the retort, the pet food, which travels forward by a system of rails, undergoes a thermal process where it is cooked at the appropriate temperature. At the opposite end of the retort, the Extra Duty Power Pusher is then aligned at the opening, so an operator can use a remote switch to signal the crates to exit the retort, allowing the Power Pusher to do the work.
Once the Power Pusher is in place, the heavy crates can be simply moved by a single worker, in less time than it would have otherwise taken multiple people.
"With the Power Pusher, our workers don't have to be physically strained while attempting to push or pull those heavy baskets-instead we allow the equipment to do the work," the representative said.
The Power Pusher requires no training, and its exceptional maneuverability and functionality capabilities decrease the risk of on-the-job stress-related injuries as well as result in significant time and cost savings. The Power Pusher is also relatively small, solving challenging applications under strict requirements and freeing up valuable space in a wide variety of facilities. In the pet food manufacturing application, the Power Pusher's ergonomic design allows the baskets to be safely maneuvered, even in the confined space of the cooking area.
"Our other main concern is ergonomics," the representative said. "The Power Pusher works well in our tight space."
In addition, the rugged Power Pusher requires minimum maintenance and is highly durable under the heavy loads it moves.
"The maintenance on them is pretty easy," the representative said. "Our Power Pushers take quite a bit of abuse. It's a rough environment, but they hold up pretty well."
