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Pack Expo: Food Preparation Augers and Screws
Monday, September 21, 2015

When Pack Expo convenes at the Las Vegas Convention Center this September 28 to 30, it will mark the trade shows 20th anniversary. For two decades, the exposition has been providing winning solutions, innovation and insights for processing and packaging. The event brings together a wide range of industries from around the globe as a showcase for the processing and packaging industry’s leading-edge trends.  

The largest event of its kind, Pack Expo 2015 will be home to more than 1,800 exhibitors and 30,000 industry professionals. Among the highlights of the show will be processing and packing solutions for food preparation industries like confectionary, baking and snack, beverage and candy.

Food preparation involves its own unique set of processing equipment, and augers and screws play an essential role in such prep. Let’s take a closer look at some of the processing equipment that is crucial to the food preparation industry and that is most likely to be on display at Pack Expo 2015.

Feeders and Material Handling

When it comes to conveying bulk material and its material handling, feeders accomplish the tasks smoothly, via gentle sliding. As a result, they eliminate much of the vibration that can cause harm to the product. One type of feeder, the volumetric feeding system, offers a constant feeding rate yet provides a cost-effective material handling solution.

Blending / Mixing

Food manufacturers use a wide range of blenders. Tumble blenders, paddle blenders and vertical blenders are among the most commonly encountered in the industry. Regardless of the type used, in bread making and other food product manufacturing, mixing and blending screws accomplish the blending and processing actions. Stainless steel screws are particularly effective at getting the job done right thanks to their durability. Their high-quality welds and their ability to be polished to the tightest food industry requirements make them an ideal choice for blending applications. These types of screws are also often found in agriculture applications.

Volumetric Fillers

Dried free-flowing food products like candy, seeds, rice, popcorn and beans offer the advantage of not degrading quickly if they’re stored correctly, but they require a bit of extra dispensing assistance. That’s where volumetric fillers come into play. They help maintain the integrity of such food products as well as simplifying dispensing, regardless of whether it takes place at high speed or low speed. Conveyer and timing screw add-ons improve these capabilities.

Auger Fillers

Just as volumetric fillers handle dried free-flowing food products, auger fillers offer the same material handling of powders and ground food products. The ultimate goal of auger fillers is to eliminate waste in processing and packaging operations where baggers, conveyor lines and cartoners are incorporated into the automatic equipment being used. No matter how many filling cycles are conducted, auger fillers aid in the achievement of precision time and time again.

Flexible Augers

Flexible augers are essential to the discharge phase of bulk food preparation, especially when filling flexible transport containers or bulk ingredient bags. Unloading, storage and material handling costs are virtually non-existent when a flexible auger is incorporated into the food preparation cycle properly. These augers also incorporate stainless steel screws into their design.