A new conveyor that integrates motor technology from NGI — friction-free cleaning guaranteed

There had been significant problems in the past with the design of the intestines conveyor belt at one of the group's pig processing plants in Basel. On average, approximately 2,500 pig intestines are conveyed daily to be inspected by official veterinarians. A major specification requirement for the intestines conveyor belt is that it must always run exactly parallel to the overhead conveyor and the so-called Sigel conveyor belt running below it, which is used to remove the trachea and esophagus, as well as all other low-grade offal (the Sigel). Parallel running is crucial here so that the official veterinarians or specialist assistants can quickly and accurately identify the individual pig halves with the intestines and other offal. However, this could not always be ensured due to the fact that the conveyor belt that had been in use so far was permanently wet because of the continuous cleaning. Consequently, the conveyor had insufficient friction, particularly at high slaughtering speeds with a correspondingly large number of intestines on the belt, resulting in slippage comparable to hydroplaning. There was repeated misalignment of the compartments of the intestine belt with the overhead conveyor and Sigel conveyor belt, necessitating manual intervention during the process. The misalignment was ultimately so disruptive that it was decided to reduce the workload of the veterinarians during high throughput by ensuring a reliable parallel run.