Automated powder handling by piab keeps production safe during COVID

piab vacuum conveyors can help with social distancing.

piab vacuum conveyors are essential powder-handling tools that are available in Canada through Firing Industries Ltd. As the COVID-19 pandemic continues, social distancing remains a must, especially in production facilities. Automated powder handling with piab equipment helps to reduce contact between workers, which minimizes the risk of contagion and maintains high productivity.

This is especially useful for companies that make pharmaceuticals or food, which are essential even in lockdown periods. piab has the proper solutions.

One conveyor for different ingredients

Although many manufacturers have established shift work and physical distances between employees to avoid contagion, manual handling of ingredients is still widely spread, and several workers are required to keep processes running. It seems like a choice between risking worker infection or slowing production down. But automated powder handling and bulk handling reduce the need for many operators and for movement across the whole factory floor, enabling social distancing while keeping productivity high.

This process also improves ergonomics, since employees do not have to carry heavy buckets or bags upstairs to feed funnels or hoppers. Vacuum conveyors can do this from a central material-storage area. The piab piFLOW^® series is easy to clean, and one unit can even be used for different ingredients.

Users can add vacuum conveyors to automate each filling process by connecting separate steps, so production can run more smoothly. The piFLOW^®p SMART system, available from Firing Industries, can make production operator-independent, which further decreases the risks of downtime or lower productivity. This unit is pre-programmed with advanced algorithms to eliminate complex manual timer settings and enables constant adaptive automatic fine tuning of the conveying process and recipe handling.

This self-optimizing system adjusts to the product to convey it in only ten minutes. Based on machine learning, a smooth material flow can occur under all conditions, at speeds that are compatible to specific substances. This changeover is quick and extremely reliable, due to a mix of sensors, an electrical control unit, and intelligent software.

With piab, automated powder handling is always faster and safer.

To learn more, contact Firing Industries’ application-sales engineers at ddubuc@firing.com or (877) 688-0974.

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