Buffers in dairy facilities provide reassuring reserves

For brief interruptions to operation, such as type change-overs, buffers are an attractive option in any dairy. Using the floor-level buffers Accutable – a dynamic buffering system that ensures FIFO sequencing – and the Accuflow, a concept based on differentiated conveyor speeds, these interruptions to operation can be simply smoothed over.

Depending on the rated output of the line concerned, the Accutable is available in single- or multi-track versions. When buffering is required, a conveyor carriage accepts the containers with the dairy products, and pulls them onto the buffer tables. The length of the buffering section is controlled to suit the amount of buffering time required. And when normal operation is resumed, the original container sequence is retained.  A crucial criterion for a dairy, with its  statutory obligations for documenting each individual batch. Gentle buffering - that’s the second task that the Accutable handles with reassuring ease. With small distances between the containers, buffers can be relied upon not to impair the visual appearance of your containers.

The Accuflow, by contrast, is based on speed differentials between several adjacent conveyor tracks: here, the containers are buffered in mass clusters, since different speeds of the conveyor tracks ensure that the containers are collected on the buffering areas. Once operation is no longer being interrupted, the buffer is emptied again by transferring the containers to the faster-moving conveyors.

Dairy facilities that exhibit a high degree of product diversity in their portfolios can use buffers to upgrade the efficiency of their in-house operations.