Metal-to-plastic Stacker Conversion Eliminates Maintenance Costs and Increases Uptime for Bega Cheese
Converting our stacker cooler to an Intralox plastic belt has eliminated our maintenance costs and resolved issues with outfeed jams, leading to more production uptime. The customized conversion has also allowed us to operate and efficiently cool three individual product lines successfully on the same belt.
Mick Boase
Bega Cheese Plant Performance Specialist
Customer Objectives
Australian cheese producer Bega Cheese was experiencing various issues with their metal belt spiral stacker cooler. Though only a few years old, the belt was damaged and required costly annual maintenance. The existing system’s tier height couldn’t accommodate a new, taller product size. Additionally, a height differential at the outfeed transfer was causing jams and expensive downtime.
Intralox Execution
Bega Cheese was able to overcome all of their challenges by working with Intralox and OEM McLaren to convert to the modular plastic Intralox DirectDrive Stacker. Such a retrofit required changing the cooler’s airflow direction from vertical to horizontal, which was possible thanks to Intralox’s Airflow Services. The DirectDrive Stacker was equipped with Series 2950 belting in acetal, customized with 80-mm sideguards and four rows of lane dividers. The increased tier height and dedicated product lanes allowed Bega Cheese to accommodate a new, larger product SKU and run it simultaneously with existing product lines. Intralox also replaced the outfeed transfer belt with their S2200 belt, eliminating the outfeed transfer height differential and resolving all product jamming issues.
Results
By converting their metal belt system to an Intralox DirectDrive Stacker, Bega resolved all of their production pain points. Replacing their damaged metal belt resulted in savings of over $30,000 (AUD) in annual maintenance costs. The plastic belt customized with sideguards and lane dividers created significant production efficiencies and fixed the outfeed transfer differential, eliminating jams and downtime.
