Mennonite Business Women Take Their Meat Operation to New Heights with a Multi-Level Pacline Overhead Conveyor System
Elmira, ONTARIO , January 30, 2008
Within the traditional Mennonite community, the owners of Kitchen Kuttings think state-of-the-art. Their brand new sausage production operation includes a geothermal heating and cooling system and a powered overhead conveyor.
Kitchen Kuttings is a small business located in the Mennonite community of Elmira, ONTARIO. Owned by three Old Order Mennonite women, Kitchen Kuttings began as a small shop selling cheese and specialty food products including their own homemade summer sausage. As their business grew so did the demand for their sausages and the need to produce them in larger quantities.
To handle the increased sausage production a new meat curing facility was planned. Kitchen Kuttings needed a way to dry cure up to 1,800 sausages at a time with a possible future expansion of 3,000 sausages. At this volume, any manual system of racking would be very cumbersome, labor intensive and difficult to manage.
The construction company for Kitchen Kuttings contacted PACLINE initially with an interest in the PACLINE S-60 overhead conveyor, which could hold very large carriers with numerous sausages. The layout they were suggesting involved a standard back and forth 'snaking' conveyor.
After discussing the application and capacity goals with PACLINE engineers, PACLINE suggested a system using their C-250 conveyor with 8 sausages per foot of conveyor. The conveyor layout would be designed in a spiral type arrangement where the conveyor track would wrap around on itself.
This set up was an ideal way to increase the storage density of the system. By utilizing this spiral design and some innovative support structures, it was possible to carry the entire 1,800 sausages on an upper level to meet the required sausage capacity. (A conveyor run was incorporated to extend down to the load area). This left the lower area of the drying facility open for storage. To address the need for increased capacity in the future, a second level can be added (below the first level) which will allow for over 3,000 sausages.
By using 3 take-up units on the 230 foot system, PACLINE was able to add forward and reverse controls to cut waiting time in half when positioning the conveyor for loading and unloading.
While the new PACLINE conveyor system brings a new level of efficiency to this traditional business, the Mennonite owners still maintain the same high standard of homemade quality in every sausage they make.
PACLINE Overhead Conveyors is dedicated to designing, manufacturing, installing and servicing high quality overhead conveyor systems. For over 25 years, PACLINE has provided innovative material handling solutions to a wide range of manufacturing and warehousing operations including automotive parts, paint and finishing lines, woodworking and food handling operations. Since 1979, PACLINE Overhead Conveyors has installed thousands of systems with over 1 million feet of conveyors in over thirty countries around the world.
PACLINE has headquarters in Mississauga, Ontario (CANADA) and an engineering office and warehouse in Buffalo, New York (USA).
For more information:
Contact Karl Scholz, General Manager
(905) 858-2330 or 1-800-955-8860
kscholz@pacline.com
or Visit PACLINE at www.pacline.com.
Company Name: Pacline Overhead Conveyors
Address 1: 155 Great Arrow Avenue
City: Buffalo
State: NY
Zip: 14207
Country: USA
Phone: 1-800-955-8860
URL: www.pacline.com
