The upper flexible screw conveyor regulates the flow of MILO drink mix powder to a metal detector , improving detection accuracy , while reducing downtime and material waste . The lower flexible screw conveyor moves contaminant-free powder to the sachet filler .
Nestlé singapore improves metal detection with flexible screw conveyor
MILO is made from the goodness of milk , malt barley and cocoa and packed with essential vitamins and minerals . Owned by Switzerland-based Nestlé , the MILO brand has been popular in Southeast Asia , Australia and worldwide for decades . It is one of many products manufactured at Nestlé ’ s plant in Singapore , where the company has operated since 1912 . MILO ® is an essential in many Singaporean households and continues to be in the forefront in meeting their evolving tastes and the need for healthier and more nutritional products
The Singapore plant produces and packages MILO drink powder in formats including tins and easy-open , easy-pour sachets that are formed and filled on a high-speed rotary filler . Upstream of the sachet filler is a metal
6 FDPP - www . fdpp . co . uk detector that scans the powder to identify contaminants . Detection of a contaminant , called a “ strike ,” triggers the metal detector to divert a portion of the powder stream into a collection bag . Workers then inspect the rejected powder to verify that the contaminant was removed , and log the incident into a quality-assurance report . This had been a cumbersome process until a flexible screw conveyor smoothed the flow to the metal detector .
Agglomerated powder complicated detection
The metal detector originally sat directly below the surge hopper that discharged the MILO powder via gravity through a butterfly valve . “ When the valve opened , often one large chunk of powder would flow through the metal detector which wasn ’ t fast enough to reject the whole chunk ,” says Sean Phua , engineering manager . As a result , some portion of the powder — and possibly the contaminant — passed through the metal detector and into a flexible screw conveyor that transferred it to the sachet filler . That would force operators to halt production .
With production halted , the operators would run the flexible screw conveyor in reverse to empty all the powder in flight . That powder , along with the rejected material , was then hand-sieved and dissolved with water to find the contaminant and “ determine whether we had a real or a false strike .” It was messy and the interruptions reduced packaging productivity , Phua says .