How Warburtons tackled crumb and flour build-up with vacuum technology
EDITOR’ S CHOICE A BETTER WAY TO CLEAN
QUIREPACE
How Warburtons tackled crumb and flour build-up with vacuum technology
In a busy bakery environment, keeping production equipment and surrounding areas free from crumb and flour deposits can present a significant cleaning challenge. Conveyors, support structures, elevated areas and difficult-to-access spaces can all become collection points for debris.
Compressed air is often used to tackle these accumulations. It is readily available and can quickly dislodge material from awkward areas. However, blowing debris away does not necessarily remove it from the production environment. Crumbs and fine flour dust can simply become airborne before settling elsewhere, potentially creating further housekeeping and cleaning requirements.
For food manufacturers, this raises an important engineering question: how can material be effectively dislodged from difficult-to-reach areas while also being collected in a controlled manner?
This was the challenge faced by the engineering team at Warburtons’ Ilkeston bakery, where crumb and flour deposits were accumulating around conveyors and production equipment.
Working with Patrick Pritchett, Sales Manager at BVC( British Vacuum Cleaners), part of Quirepace Ltd, the bakery explored an alternative approach that could reduce reliance on high-pressure airlines for routine cleaning.
Moving from blowing to controlled collection
According to Patrick, the problem is familiar across the bakery sector.
The wider lesson is that industrial cleaning equipment can be engineered around the specific requirements of a production process.
“ Many bakeries face the same issue. There are always areas around production lines where crumb and flour deposits build up. Operators often turn to compressed air because it is quick, but in many cases it simply moves the material somewhere else rather than removing it completely.”
The challenge is particularly relevant in areas where access is restricted. Conveyor systems, framework and elevated sections of production equipment can make conventional cleaning difficult, encouraging operators to use compressed air to dislodge material.
The alternative is to combine the ability to loosen deposits with a means of collecting them at source.
Following a site assessment at Warburtons, BVC proposed a modified version of its ATEX-rated TI60 industrial vacuum system.
The system incorporated a dedicated blowing outlet, allowing operators to use controlled, low-pressure airflow to loosen deposits before collecting the material through the vacuum system.
This approach differs from using conventional high-pressure airlines to disperse debris. Instead of simply moving material away from the immediate cleaning area, the objective is to dislodge and collect it as part of the same cleaning operation.
For a bakery environment handling flour and other powdered ingredients, this provides a more controlled alternative for tackling deposits in areas that can otherwise be difficult to clean effectively.
Applying the approach to bakery production
The same type of cleaning challenge is not unique to Warburtons. Similar systems have also been supplied to Fine Lady Bakeries, where crumb and flour dust accumulation presented comparable cleaning requirements.
The applications demonstrate how industrial vacuum equipment can be adapted to address specific production-environment challenges rather than relying on a one-size-fitsall approach.
In this case, the requirement was not simply for a more powerful vacuum. The engineering challenge was to provide operators with a practical way of loosening material in confined or awkward locations while maintaining effective collection.
That distinction is important in food manufacturing environments, where cleaning forms part of the wider production and hygiene strategy.
Cleaning as part of the production process
Effective housekeeping is essential in a modern food manufacturing
6 PECM Issue 82