Customer Requirements
Tangerine Confectionery, the United Kingdom’s largest independent manufacturer of high quality sugar confectionery and popcorn products relocated its factory at Pontefract, West Yorkshire.
To improve production, the company decided to install a completely new sherbet blending and delivery system, comprised of our vacuum conveyors, a sifter with an integral magnet metal trap, a mixer and a buffer hopper.
1) Tangerine Confectionery was looking to produce and transfer finished products to each of its two packaging lines.
2) The “Sherbet Fountain” line marries the sherbet with a liquorice stick and is then filled into Tangerine Confectionery’s iconic packaging that dates back to 1925.
Spiroflow Solutions
Another Tangerine Confectionery brand, “Barratt” sherbet products, are preweighed and packaged into tubs.
– Using a suction tube, an operator transfers these ingredients through a sifter or magnet into a mixer, removing any agglomerates.
– Next, the mixture is discharged into a holding hopper stationed below and waits for further vacuum transfer to the two packaging lines.
– The holding hoppers allow batches of product to be simultaneously mixed since one batch can be held for packaging while another is being mixed.
– Production for the “Sherbet Fountains” and “Dip Dabs” sub brands is continuous over three shifts, five days a week.
– The electronic control system was designed and built by Spiroflow.
– Additional level controls in the packaging machine feed hoppers actuate the vacuum controls whenever the hoppers require topping off.
– Level hoppers in the buffer hopper below indicate when the equipment is ready for another batch of sherbet.
The Results
The entire installation was handled by Spiroflow engineers and has been in constant operation since the equipment was installed.
“We have other Spiroflow equipment on site and know they have the expertise and experience to put together turnkey processing and handling systems,” said Project
Engineer John Williams. “This system has been running for many years and we are very pleased with every aspect of it.”
