Innovator   

Volume 1, 2004   Issue 20

Hot Off The Grill!

Consumers are hungry for prepared foods with authentic barbecue flavors and textures, and our continuous Rotary Brander delivers a genuine char-grilled finish with outstanding visual appeal.

	Choose from free-standing units to brand one or both sides of foods, or single-side branders that mount to existing conveyors.

Choose from single and two-sided branders, and create the markings that are just right for your product using parallel grill marks or customized diamond and other patterns. Branding height is easily adjustable for different product heights, and if branding is not required, the branding wheel can be raised completely clear of the product. For products of irregular thickness, the floating ring option follows the natural contours of each piece to achieve uniform branding.

Our Rotary Brander includes a variable speed conveyor, belt rinse system for easier clean-up, and self-contained combustion and control systems. Operating and combustion controls are fully pre-piped and wired to reduce installation time and costs. Remote control panels, as well as roll-away units on casters for more production flexibility, are available to suit your particular plant requirements.

And if branding alone doesn’t provide the exact product look you want, we also offer a combination Searer/Brander. This system not only brands, but uses open flames to sear the surface, peaks and edges of product to further develop color highlights.

Heat and Control branders and searers for value-added products are available for evaluation and testing at our Technical Centers. Contact us for more information and a demonstration running your products!

Easy Energy Savings

Airsweep

Energy-saving solutions from Heat and Control will reduce the skyrocketing energy costs that are cutting into your bottom line. Imagine reducing your energy bill by 10% to 12% next year. Quite a large number! Now think of how large that number would be in 20 years. We’ve termed these great energy saving ideas as "low hanging fruit" because the savings they generate are real "easy pickin’s". Whether you order them as part of a new processing system, or as an addition to your existing line, fuel savings are guaranteed.

Booster Heater

	Booster Heater

AirSweep Water Removal

Heat Recovery System

Heat Recovery System

Mike-sell's Peels For Profit

	Twin VersaPeels supply potatoes to fryer lines producing over 5,000 lbs/hr of finished chips. Potatoes enter and leave VersaPeel in a smooth, tangential motion to minimize bruising.

Seeking to reduce potato yield loss and maintenance costs, Mike-sell’s replaced its three continuous peelers with two new Heat and Control VersaPeel® batch peelers. The results are better than expected!

With VersaPeel, Mike-sell’s has increased finished chip production by 5-6% with no jump in potato usage! When operating at its existing production rate, the company uses 6-8% fewer pounds of potatoes. More efficient peeling has also improved finished chip quality, and lowered costs for maintenance.

"Peeled potatoes have a better overall appearance and there’s less waste"
— Norm Johnson, Executive VP of Manufacturing

"Our potatoes now have a smooth finish and there are almost no cuts or fines. In fact," he explains, "with less scrap generated by slicing the smoother, rounder potatoes, fewer chip fragments are packaged. Overall breakage in finished bags of chips is down by at least 5% with a noticeable improvement in bag fill," he notes.

Peeled potatoes have a polished surface to reduce scrap build-up in downstream equipment. A pump and flume system transfers potatoes to the VersaPeels for clean operation and minimal use of floor space.

"Most of our savings have come because we no longer need to over-peel," says Johnson. "With our old continuous peelers, we had to over-peel each potato to get the peel quality we wanted. In fact, we had reached a point of double peeling using a final brush-only machine to polish and minimize the damage done in the first peeler operation."

Johnson notes that the return-on-investment is strong and savings improve proportionately as more production is required to cover sales demands. "My only regret is that we had not found this technology 10 years ago, as the benefits in quality and related costs savings are excellent advantages to our business," he concludes.

FastBack Seasoning Revolution

Our new Revolution™ Seasoning System delivers all the advantages of proven FastBack seasoning technology in a space-saving design with an affordable price.

More uniform coverage, less seasoning usage, and reduced product breakage are trademarks of FastBack’s superior seasoning performance. With the new Revolution seasoner, a patented drum arrangement also provides a more economical and compact configuration that takes up less of your valuable floor space.

	Quickly exchange the Revolution drum for a clean one without using tools. Prevents cross contamination and allows cleaning outside the product area.

The built-in Revolution drum, which actually connects to the discharge end of the conveyor pan, shortens the overall length and height of the system. The quick-change drum can be easily removed by hand with a single clamp, allowing a clean drum to be installed in minutes and the used one to be cleaned off line and away from the product area.

And don’t forget the gentle horizontal motion of the FastBack® conveyor itself. Generating less product breakage and seasoning shakeoff than vibratory conveyors, less seasoning build-up in the pan, and quiet operation near 70 dBA with product, the Revolution Seasoning System is the ideal solution for packaging-style seasoning applications.

Fishery Products Fries It Right!

When it came time to replace their two direct-fired fryers, Fishery Products Inc. considered the exceptional performance of their existing packaging equipment in awarding the order to Heat and Control.

"Heat and Control’s Breaded Products Fryer (BPF) appealed to us for several reasons," explains Jonathan Arena, Operations Director at the Danvers, Massachusetts facility. "Those benefits, along with the exemplary operation and servicing of our Ishida weighers and tray filling systems, are a big reason why we selected Heat and Control as a supplier for the fryers."

Battered, breaded, and fried seafood delicacies represent much of the company’s production. The BPF met all their objectives for the new fryers, plus it offered many additional advantages over competitive frying technology.

The Coil-Type Heat Exchangers (CTHX) provide the indirect heating they wanted without the additional cost, plumbing and maintenance of a thermal fluid boiler system. The CTHX also responds much faster to changes in product load and temperature, improving product quality and throughput. Unlike thermal fluid systems, the BPF improves sanitation by eliminating the need for heat transfer fins in the fryer, and utility costs are lower as well due to a more efficient operating design.

"With our new fryers," Arena reports, "throughput has increased, oil life has been extended and oil usage reduced, cleaning is easier because the two-stage filter system has reduced accumulated crumbs, and product quality is better and more consistent."

"And the sales and service support for the fryers has been very responsive" according to Arena. "Our relationship with Heat and Control has strengthened and will continue to grow."

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