Dublin, Ireland based Gem Pack Foods Ltd are both a Contract Packer and provider of an extensive range of own brand ‘Gem’ and ‘Gem Gourmet’ products - several of which are simply repacked from bulk supplies but many of which are proprietary mixes.

Customer requirements

Their key ingredients are sugar, in various forms from granulated to fine icing grades, rice and corn flour. To keep abreast with growth in demand, Gem Pack Foods decided to have these key ingredients delivered in 1 tonne Big Bags (FIBC’s) rather than 25 kg packs - to take advantage of all the well documented benefits of bulk supplies. They required a means to discharge this variety of products from the Big Bags and to deliver each of them, in the correct condition, to the appropriate feed point of their ‘Fawema’ packing machine. This packing machine has 2 feed points, one requires product be delivered at a metered feed rate and the other has it’s own auger to regulate the flow from a mass transfer system. Only one feed point can be in operation at any time. Either way, product fed to the packing head has to have a consistent flowability and has to be de-aerated within specified tolerances.

Spiroflow solutions

To deliver all the products, which have very different flow characteristics, to the packer in the condition required, Spiroflow’s suggested solution was to supply one of our Model T6 Big Bag Dischargers with a Flexible Screw Conveyor (which delivers product at a metered rate) and a Vacuum Conveyor (which is a mass transfer system). Each conveying system is mobile so that change-over between the two is a quick and easy operation. In the words of the Engineering Manager at Gem Pack Foods, ‘It’s a good piece of kit!’

The Big Bag Discharger is sited on a mezzanine floor within the main packing hall and, as a result, Big Bags are delivered by a pallet truck rather than a forklift truck. Accordingly, the discharger is furnished with its own lifting beam and travelling hoist to facilitate the easy positioning of full bags into the discharger. However this cannot happen before either the Flexible Screw Conveyor or Vacuum Conveyor are in position below the discharger and its umbilical cord is connected to the electrical control panel. The loops of each bag are attached to a lifting frame that ensures the bag is lifted squarely in to place. Once in place, bags sit on a substantial support dish whilst being stretched vertically by the compression springs within the side arms that support the lifting frame. This stretching helps to ensure total discharge of the bags’ contents. The support dish houses ‘base massagers’ that can be operated in the event of product being reluctant to discharge from a compacted or otherwise difficult bag.