Wajax’s very own John Kupka (Vice President, Industrial Parts) and Robert Holtforster (Manager, Industrial Material Handling) recently joined host Jerrod Downey on an episode of Agriculture NOW to discuss Wajax’s comprehensive solutions tailored for the Agriculture and Food and Beverage sectors. Throughout the episode, our team showcased our industry excellence, dedication to food and employee safety, strong local ties, and commitment to sustainability and diversity. Click the link below to witness firsthand how we embody our company culture and uphold our values in real-time!
New Gearbox Leads to a Bigger Mix for Growing Chocolate Fix
THE CHALLENGE
The largest cocoa processor and chocolate ingredient supplier in North America had significant capacity growth plans for production output from their Ontario facility. The project required an investment in larger and newer conch (mixing) tanks.
THE NEED
One critical area of this project involved the correct selection of the gearbox and electric motors. As well, the required belting, bearings and seals needed to be identified and sourced. Wajax worked with the customer’s engineering team, as well as a third-party fabrication partner who was contracted to construct the conch (mixing) tanks. Wajax partnered with one of our Strategic Power Transmission vendors, SM Cyclo/Sumitomo, to provide technical support and required drawings for the gearboxes.
THE WAJAX SOLUTION
The first order included a Sumitomo PHD9075P3-RL-80 (80:1 ratio) with a 100 HP electric drive motor. This project was so successful, that several years later, they completed a second project of four identical tanks for another area in the plant. Each of the units installed in the Canadian facility are running as designed and creating additional growth opportunities for the company.
THE IMPACT
The Canadian facility continues to capture growth opportunities. This success received the attention of their colleagues in the United States, who have since contracted to build 5 slightly larger tanks with the speed being a little slower. This required a larger gearbox model PHD 9095P4-RL-140 (140:1 ratio), also driven by a 100 HP electric motor. These units were installed mid-2018 and Wajax was the solution partner for this project.
3M Filtration System for Award Winning Ice Wine
THE CHALLENGE
Vintner Jamie Macfarlane began his wine-making career in 1982, working in several of France’s famous wine regions before returning home to Canada to create and market the first Ice Wine from Niagara, Ontario.
A successful career in the industry followed, including twenty years at two of Canada’s largest wineries, but Jamie’s passion for producing only the highest quality ice wine never left. In pursuit of that passion, Jamie established The Ice House Winery in Niagara-on-the-Lake in 2005. High quality wine making demands that every step of the process is performed without compromise. To that end, Jamie set out to source a high-quality filtration system.
THE NEED
Because ice wine has higher viscosity than conventional wines, Jamie knew he needed a filtration system powerful enough to handle the difference. Consistent and profitable production of ice wine is challenging; a reliable filtration system would help minimize liquid transfer loss, but equally important was finding a partner who was flexible and could adapt to any circumstance.
“Clive’s knowledge of the filtration system and remarkable support for implementation, are reasons we trust our business to Wajax. His technical expertise and perpetual willingness to understand our business operations have been critical in identifying solutions to optimize our process.” – Jamie Macfarlane, Vintner and Owner of The Ice House Winery
THE WAJAX SOLUTION
Clive King, Wajax Manager – Process Filtration, introduced Jamie to the 3M filtration system, a product that he successfully implemented it at several of the wineries where he worked previously.
When Jamie opened The Ice House Winery, the ease-of-use, compact design and high-flow capabilities of the 3M filtration system made it an easy choice for his business.
Wajax delivered many 3M filtration systems to The Ice House Winery over the years, ensuring that each one was quickly and properly installed. 3M’s Zeta Plus technology is an important asset for environmental control, which helps to mitigate potential costly loss of product.
Beyond providing the right filtration for Jamie’s operations, Wajax’s expert technicians were available around the clock to address and resolve common issues like protein instability and microbial interferences. Given the sensitivity of filtration systems, Jamie felt reassured that his team of Wajax experts would be quick to address any issues should they arise.
THE IMPACT
The combination of the right filtration system and ongoing service support gave Jamie the confidence to focus on his craft of making award-winning ice wine.
The 3M filtration system helped minimize liquid loss and optimized the production process, resulting in a cost-effective and dependable operational system to help The Ice House Winery grow and thrive.
Since 1985, Jamie has known that he could count on Wajax on good times and in bad.
DESMI Pump to the Rescue in Bakery’s Batter Escape
The Challenge
Our customer is a full-line wholesale baker based in a 120,000sq ft production facility in Concord, Ontario, distributing their products across North America. This location produces a wide variety of fresh and frozen dessert type donuts, muffins, cakes and seasonal baked goods. The bakery relies on the latest technology and equipment to produce a large volume of products – satisfying customers’ sweet tooth year-round.
The facility was experiencing seepage with their existing rotary lobe production pumps. A severe leak had liquid products seeping onto the production floor creating raw material waste, resulting in safety issues for production personnel slipping on a contaminated production floor. To prevent ongoing product loss and any potential safety hazards, our customer was required to frequently replace poor performing mechanical seals – an unsustainable solution.
The Need
The facility needed a long-term solution that would keep the raw goods from escaping and off the production floor. Our customer was not only losing significant downtime with repeated seal replacement and maintenance requirements, they also could not maintain the long-term costs associated with raw material waste.
Timely action was a factor, as in any food preparation, sanitation is critical, and the facility wanted to ensure the safest production procedures were being utilized.
The Solution
Our Wajax team reviewed the customer’s needs and identified the DESMI Rotan Internal Gear Pump which is electrically driven, as the best customer solution. DESMI delivers technically advanced pumping solutions for the Food Industry. This “chocolate processing pump” is ideal for high viscosity material – such as milk and dark chocolate, as well as mixed recipe ingredients.
This particular pump has enhanced features for simple installation and maintenance and a “leak-free” seal design to prevent product loss and reduce housekeeping. Larger internal tolerances allow for free flow of the material goods – perfect for the bakery’s application.
The Outcome
The customer was pleased to be presented a pump that checks all the boxes for increased time between maintenance and improve overall profitability.
Two pumps have been installed in July 2021 and continue to perform without any raw material leakage which has eliminated associated personnel safety issues as well as decreased maintenance costs.
