Retrofitting Your Food Packaging Process for Metal Detection

As government regulations like FSMA take effect, the need for process alterations and critical control points become a big concern for engineers in the design phase of new facilities. Placement of food safety equipment like metal detectors to ensure product purity is now essential, and sometimes it needs to happen in a precise location, for example right before final packaging. The good thing is that, for new facilities, if you know the requirements you can design your process accordingly.

But what if your facility was built twenty years ago, without critical control points in mind? In these cases, the space you have to work with and the existing equipment do not usually have much extra room for expansion. Often, there is no room at all.

This leaves operations departments at a loss, especially when they reach out to equipment manufacturers asking for a solution. These reps might come look at your process and if they see a tight spot, let’s say 12-14 inches, then they are probably going to say it can’t be done. Well, that may be true for them. But it’s not true for Bunting Magnetics Co.

Bunting prides itself on the versatility of its products and the ability to meet the unique demands of customers. When they say it can’t be done, we say it can.

The flatLINE™ 07 Low-Profile Metal Detector is a perfect illustration of this versatility. When it comes to retro-fitting a metal detector into a tight spot where—let’s face it—no one ever intended a metal detector to be, this piece of equipment can be an operations manager’s dream come true.

For example, consider a food packaging situation where the product is being measured into foil-lined bags. The filling station is constructed in such a way that, in order to create more vertical space, the mezzanine would need to be lifted. Overcoming that space constraint would not only be expensive but might even be impossible due to ceiling height and other restrictions.

In that situation, most companies will tell you that your only option is to place the detector before packaging. This is because their equipment won’t fit mid-process and also can’t go at the end of the process since the foil packaging makes it impossible to implement metal detection at that point.

The flatLINE™ detector offers a solution to this dilemma. With the shortest stance in the industry in overall height and dimensions, the flatLINE™ can be placed between the cups on a filler and the bagging machine, providing maximum protection for your customers and your brand. So regardless of tight spacing and facility age—and even when others have told you it can’t be done—give us a chance to say, “Yes, it can.”

If you would like to speak to one of our experts, you can contact us at:

Phone: 1-800-835-2526

Email: bmc@buntingmagnetics.com