A Privately-Owned Food Manufacturer replaces a competitive blower for a more efficient Paxton solution 

THE CLIENT

A privately-owned food manufacturer began as a pasta and salsa manufacturer but now has become an R&D leader, formulating and producing innovative food, beverage and spirits for their labels and their national and retail brand partners. After forty years of being in business, the food manufacturer has learned that no two customers have the same needs, and this has helped them establish a range of services and processes to meet every customer’s requirements.

THE CHALLENGE

The food manufacturer previously used our competitor’s blower systems. Recently, the manufacturer realized their products were not being dried as needed and that their drying process had become more time consuming than they hoped for. The plant used two separate Sonic blowers, each powered by a 20 hp motor spinning at about 3520 – 3525 rpm. Both blowers are connected to two 24” air knives and two 6” knives, estimated at about 640 cfm and ~70 - 80” H₂O water column.

The food manufacturer has multiple issues with our competitor’s solution because it has become a very manual process for their employees to adjust the Sonic air knives every time they change container sizes (several container sizes from 8oz up to 44oz), since changeovers occur every two days. After listening to their drying challenges, the Paxton representative noted that Paxton’s easily adjustable Spyder Manifold combined with a PX-series blower would be the solution they need.

THE SOLUTION

Originally, the food manufacturer wanted only to replace their 24” and 6” air knives in both lines because they were no longer efficient and were costing valuable time during changeovers. The Paxton team encouraged the manufacturer's representative to consider replacing both the air knives and the blower with Paxton system in order in order to get the highest efficiency and superior drying performance.  The Paxton application engineer recommended the use of 2 PX-2000 and Spyder Manifolds for each of the lines.  The Spyder Manifold has flexible arms that easily and quickly adjust during changeovers and can target problem areas.  The PX-2000 blower provides higher efficiency blower to dry, while reducing the energy usage.