Discovery Foods cleans up with new installation

Tortillas and wrap breads manufacturer Discovery Foods recently installed a standalone Panamatic 800 washing machine at its UK site in Milton Keynes.

“As the wash programme is automatic, workers can be released for other duties while the system runs through its pre-programmed sequence. This is a significant step forward when compared with the time intensive manual jet wash procedures that were used before the new installation.”

Once the programme has run, the tray is extracted from the opposite side of the Panamatic for return to the production area.

“It was important to Discovery Foods that the full range of materials, including stainless steel, plastic and rubber, could be handled by the one unit,” says Paul Careless, sales manager at Oliver Douglas.  “This is a highly intensive operation that runs 24 hours per day and we are delighted that our equipment design is helping to build on the efficiency of this key part of Discovery Foods’ manufacturing process.”

Producing up to 1.3 million products per day, a total of five dual production lines are operational at the site, each of which utilises a range of food manufacturing equipment. The range includes stainless steel and plastic rounding drums, utensils and both rubber and plastic moving belts – all of which are now cleaned using the new installation by Oliver Douglas.

“Equipment is moved via a trolley to a dedicated cleaning area where it is loaded into a purpose-designed tray, and rolled into the front of the Panamatic unit,” says Brian Clarke, quality manager at Discovery Foods.