Tom Leach, CAMCORP National Sales Manager – Pneumatic Conveying Systems recently provided insights on data gathering and ingredient handling systems in Dan Malovany’s Baking & Snack magazine article Cyber Sleuthing for Troubleshooting.
Data gathering and ingredient handling systems can work together to identify potential problems during production. But as Tom mentions, operators still need to have a good understanding of the parts and function of the pneumatic conveying system. Training is critical to long-term success. Troubleshooting time and downtime can be greatly reduced when operators are properly trained. “Understanding the original design parameters for the system’s controls can also help when trying to diagnose why an operation isn’t performing,” says Dan Malovany.
“It seems so elementary, but many bakeries still rely on flashing warning lights and blaring horns to signal the maintenance crew to jump into action and figure out what’s gone wrong after production comes to a grinding halt,” says Malovany. “By connecting a control system to a secure industrial private network (VPN) router, many equipment companies can troubleshoot issues from anywhere without traveling to the bakery. For security reasons, don’t forget to monitor the programmable controls, too, to make sure changes to the system are done by someone who understands the process.”
Whether bakeries allow access to their operation before, during, or even after a problem occurs this article helps to illustrate that there is a balance between knowing pneumatic conveying equipment inside and out and incorporating remote technology that will help bakeries and snack food producers optimize their production and meet their goals.
Our diverse product offering for bakeries and snack food producers starts from the truck or rail unloading to storage, pneumatic conveying through to discharge devices, scaling, weighing, and batching. And since CAMCORP also designs dust collection systems to application requirements, baking and snack plant manager and engineers don’t need to juggle several equipment suppliers.
