Bulk Bag Discharger
Allows Dual Conveying
Applications to Meet Exact
Packing Specifications
Adhering to the most exacting standards, Gem Pack
Foods manufactures, warehouses, and distributes
food products to most of the major food wholesalers
and large supermarket chains in Ireland. It exports
the remaining product overseas.
In its operations, the Dublin-headquartered company processes about 350 tons of sugar a week,
along with large quantities of rice and corn flour
to produce an extensive range of Gem and Gem
Gourmet brand products. The sugar comes in various
forms, ranging from granulated to fine icing grades.
Gem Pack Foods uses bulk supplies to create several
branded products, while other brand-name products
are proprietary mixes. The company also serves as
a contract packer for other companies.
At GEM Pack Foods, a Type 6 Spiroflow
bulk bag discharger and two Spiroflow
flexible-screw conveyors deliver food
product at a metered rate to a Fawema
packing machine.
A Fawema packing machine with two feed points is
used by Gem Pack Foods to package the product in a
wide variety of sizes ranging from 6.5-lb in-box bags
down to single-portion sachets. One of the two feed
points requires that product be delivered at a metered
feed rate. The other feed point has its own auger,
which regulates the flow from a mass transfer system.
Only one of the two feed points can be in operation at
any given time. Both feed points require that product
be fed at a consistent flow rate to the packing head
and be deaerated within specified tolerances.
To keep up with growth and demand for its products, the company wanted to take advantage of the
economies of scale by having key ingredients delivered in 2200-lb bulk bags rather than in 55-lb packs.
The challenge was to convey the product appropriately to the packer in the condition specified. To
meet that challenge, the company contacted Power
Process Systems to help find the best way to discharge the variety of products from bulk bags and
deliver them via conveyor at the packing machine’s
appropriate feed point.
Power Process Systems, which represents Spiroflow
Systems in Ireland, consulted with Spiroflow’s technical support team at their headquarters in Clitheroe,
UK. Spiroflow Systems Inc., a subsidiary operation
located in Charlotte, NC, that services both North and
South America, was also consulted. Together, Power
Process Systems and Spiroflow Systems recommended
that Gem Pack Foods install a bulk bag discharger that
can connect to a Spiroflow flexible-screw conveyor
or a vacuum conveyor. The flexible-screw conveyor
delivers product at a metered feed rate while the vacuum conveyor delivers product en masse.
A Spiroflow Type 6 bulk bag discharger with a
hoist design was recommended, since the discharger
is located on the mezzanine floor of Gem Pack
Foods’ main packing hall, which is too small to accommodate a lift truck. The innovative hoist design
allows delivery and unloading of the bulk bags on
pallets without the need for a lift truck. Each of the
Spiroflow conveying systems selected is mounted
on a mobile frame, enabling quick and easy changeovers between the systems.
“Discharging the products with Spiroflow’s Type
6 bulk bag discharger was a walk in the park, since
the unit came with integral base massage paddles
and bag-tensioning support arms,” noted Pat Leamy,
managing director of Powder Process Systems. “The
challenge for us was to deliver the sugars and bulk
ingredients to the packing machine in the condition
