Before it sold its Typhoo tea business to the Indian Apeejay Surendra Group last year in a deal worth £80m, Premier Foods had streamlined production of tea bags following the transfer of production from Edinburgh to its plant at Moreton on Merseyside.
It called on bulk materials handling manufacturer Guttridge Services, which supplied eight bulk bag dischargers and 11 Easyflo mobile screw elevators. The equipment delivers traditional Typhoo tea and fruit and herbal varieties to a string-and-tag and round tea bag production line.
"The Guttridge equipment provided an ideal solution because it is adaptable and can be thoroughly cleaned to prevent product cross-contamination when we change production from one tea variety to another," says engineering projects manager Dave Berry. "Maintaining product quality is obviously essential and the Easyflo's solid screw system has inherently gentle handling characteristics because there is no contact between the screw and the tube."
Another benefit of the Easyflo elevators installed is the incorporation of reclaim chutes and special interlocked, quick-release safety spouts that allow operators to run the machines in reverse and reclaim residual tea at the end of production runs.