5 questions before choosing food processing equipment

When planning an investment in new food processing equipment, it can be tempting to begin with machine size, capacity or a particular technical solution.

Before different options can be compared, however, the process requirements need to be clearly understood.

What products will be processed? Which processing stages are required? How does the production flow operate? What technical infrastructure is available in the factory?

Here are five questions to answer before specifying equipment for industrial smoking, cooking, heat treatment or cooling.

1. What products will be processed?

Start with the product itself.

Define the types of products that will be processed, their dimensions and formats, and how much variation exists between different production runs.

Equipment may need to handle several different product formats, or it may primarily be used for one specific type of product.

It is also important to understand how products will be positioned during processing.

Will they be hung? Placed on racks or trays? Loaded onto trolleys? Or transported continuously through the process?

These questions should be answered before the physical configuration of the equipment is assessed.

2. What does the process need to do?

The next question is which processing stages the product needs to undergo.

Smoking, drying, cooking, other heat treatment processes and cooling perform different functions and can require different equipment configurations.

In some production systems, several processing stages take place within the same equipment. In others, separate machines are used for different parts of the process.

The process should therefore be defined before the machine is selected.

Protech offers equipment for applications including smoking and heat treatment, cooking and cooling. The appropriate solution depends on the product and the required production flow.

Batch smoke chamber
https://protech-ab.se/en/product-range/batch-smoke-chamber/

Cooking chamber
https://protech-ab.se/en/product-range/cooking-chamber/

Intensive cooling
https://protech-ab.se/en/product-range/intensive-cooling/

3. What is the actual capacity requirement?

Capacity is often discussed early in an equipment project, but a capacity figure needs context.

Relevant questions include:

What is the normal production volume?
What are the typical batch sizes?
Is production batch-based or continuous?
How much does production volume vary?
How quickly can the previous stage supply product?
How quickly can the following stage receive it?

The equipment needs to operate as part of the complete production line.

Capacity planning should therefore consider the actual production flow rather than only the maximum capacity of an individual machine.

If several products are processed, product changes, cleaning and other planned interruptions may also be relevant.

4. How will the equipment fit into the factory?

Processing equipment must not only perform the required process. It also needs to fit into the production environment where it will operate.

Available floor space is one consideration, but it is not the only one.

Questions may include:

How will products arrive at the equipment?
How will they move to the next stage?
Which utilities are available?
What ventilation and drainage are required?
Is there sufficient access for cleaning and service?
How will the machine connect to existing equipment?

Depending on the system, utilities such as electricity, water, steam or cooling media may be required.

These conditions should be understood before the final equipment configuration is defined.

5. Which process parameters need to be controlled?

The final question concerns process control.

Temperature and time are important parameters in many thermal food processing operations. Depending on the application, humidity, airflow, smoking and cooling may also be relevant.

This does not mean that every process requires every available control function.

Instead, the requirements specification should identify the parameters that actually need to be measured and controlled for the relevant product and process.

It should also be clear whether different process programs need to be stored and which information operators need during production.

Start with the process, not the machine

An equipment project becomes easier to define when the discussion begins with what the production process needs to achieve.

The product, processing stages, capacity, product handling, installation conditions and process controls together provide the basis for assessing technical solutions.

A more detailed guide to developing these requirements is available here:

How to define requirements for industrial food processing equipment

Learn more

Protech product range
https://protech-ab.se/en/product-range/