Consistent and Reliable Metal Detectors Ensure Production of Safe Product

Oct. 8, 2010 - PRLog -- “Quality and safety are our primary objectives,” says Mike Hodgens, corporate vice president of operations at the Chaska, Minnesota based company. “Our products have an amplifying effect. One truckload of our product becomes many truckloads of our customers’ products. So, we’re very careful to deliver only the highest quality product.”

End of Line Detectors
Most of the company’s processes involve grinding and blending of ingredients from a number of sources. Although Quali Tech’s machinery is stainless steel, both ferrous and non-ferrous metals can show up in the ingredients. So a key element of its quality and safety efforts is the metal detectors. “They’re at the end of the line, the last quality check before our product goes into its container,” says Hodgens. “Above everything else, we measure the success of our metal detectors based on the
production of safe product but there are other factors too, like maintenance and sanitation,” he adds.

Quali Tech produces hundreds of products on each of its production lines, which handle up to one ton of product per hour. To eliminate possible cross-contamination, workers disassemble and fully sanitize the metal detectors during product changeovers.

Reliability Is Key
“We have purchased metal detectors from a number of different manufacturers over the years,” says Hodgens. “We had issues with some of the designs and one required a lot more maintenance than we had expected. But we also had one from Safeline, purchased in 1995. It was like an island of sanity in all the chaos. Because it gave us no problems, it wasn’t top of mind. It took us a while to realize just how reliably it operated.”

Zero Metal Free Zone" Technology
So last year, Quali Tech installed its third metal detector from Safeline. The purchased Gravity FlowHD detects and rejects all tramp metal contamination from dry, free-flowing bulk product lines. The unit features patented “Zero Metal Free Zone” (ZMFZ) technology, which reduces the length of the in-feed pipe and allows the reject device to be positioned close to the detector without interference or false rejects. The ZMFZ technology minimizes the overall height of the system while maximizing detection sensitivity.

Consistent Reject Mechanism
A cowbell style reject valve, which incorporates high speed pneumatics with a cushioned cylinder, assures accurate removal of contamination while minimizing system leakage. The reject mechanism on the Safeline unit is very quiet and smooth. It’s a very good design, explains Hodgens. On most other systems, the reject device uses a lot of force to react quickly. That force translates to noise and vibration, which impacts the ability of the detector to remain stable over time. In contrast, the
Safeline system is consistent and reliable. Everybody from maintenance to production to quality assurance knows they don’t need to worry about the Safeline metal detector.

Sensitivity and Reliability
Hodgens says he believes the Safeline units offer the best detection sensitivity, as well as maintenance free reliability and easy sanitation. “Typically, there is a trade-off between sensitivity and reliability but not with this equipment. The Safeline metal detectors are very unusual we get a more durable unit that also performs more consistently at high levels."

Quali Tech has been operating its first Safeline metal detector 24 hours a day, five days a week for 12 years. During that time, the company made only one service call request, and that was their own doing  a forklift operator ran into the keyboard. Also impressive was the service from Safeline’s local sales rep firm, Westlake Packaging.

# # #

METTLER TOLEDO specializes in the area of precision instruments for professional use. METTLER TOLEDO laboratory instruments are used in research, scientific, drug discovery, and quality control labs, amongst many others in the pharmaceutical, chemical, food and cosmetics industries. METTLER TOLEDO comprehensive industrial solutions cover the various steps in a host of manufacturing processes at many of the same customers that laboratory serves. Solutions range from receiving raw materials through various manufacturing processes, in-line process control and end-of-line packaging control, to logistics and shipping. Increasingly, these solutions are fully integrated into the customer's IT environment, helping automate their workflows. In food retail, our offering for fresh food management ranges from receiving and pre-packaging, to in-store solutions for self-service departments, deli counters, and checkout terminals.