Innovative thinking, reliability and confidence in our products were the key ingredients that helped LAC Conveyors & Automation be selected for this important project to replace an ageing spiral cooling conveyor.
The Client
Lantmännen Unibake UK is the UK’s leading supplier of high-quality bakery products to retailers, wholesalers and the foodservice industry. LAC Conveyors & Automation provide conveying systems and platforms to help move their products.
The Challenge
Lantmännen Unibake UK needed to replace an ageing spiral conveyor which was used to cool their freshly baked products with the additional aims of reducing the number of transfers, increasing production throughput and freeing up valuable floor space.
Our Approach
LAC Conveyors & Automation visited the site to make an initial survey and assessment of the project requirements. A number of potential solutions were drafted and then modelled in 3D Autocad for presentation to Lantmännen Unibake UK who then commissioned a new concept stainless steel spiral conveyor to replace the ageing system.
LAC Conveyors & Automation used belt supplier Intralox’s unique i-Drive system for the belt solution with an overall continuous run of 575m utilised in (LAC Conveyors & Automation are the only licenced agent in the UK for this product) which was installed in the innovative 17 tiered stainless steel conveyor. There are 2 entry floors in the conveyor which has helped greatly improve operatives and engineers access to products and for maintenance purposes.
Results
By installing this new spiral conveyor there has been a 30% increase of product throughput along with a significant decrease in downtime for maintenance programs. The new conveyor also resulted in a reduction of 3 product transfer points. Valuable floor space for new storage units was released by raising the spiral conveyor up on legs.
Joseph Laranjeira, Engineering Manager for Lantmannen Unibake said “LAC Conveyors & Automation are the only engineering company that I can trust to do the work required to Lantmannen Unibake standards.”