Food and Beverage Industry Case Study:
Whitworth Bros Ltd, Wellingborough
“Some lines were having bad problems and we wanted to see the effect Expel was having, and it has, it’s had a REALLY positive effect, so we are going to start fitting more of them”
Paul Wyatt – Maintenance Manager – Whitworth Bros, Ltd.
About the customer
Whitworth Bros Ltd are a family business with roots dating back to the late 1800’s and their wide range of flours are manufactured in some of the most technically advanced mills in the world, ensuring the highest levels of food safety and brand protection for their customers.
Whitworth Bros Ltd have built a reputation as a world class miller and market leader through significant capital investment and their close working relationships with their customers.
Project Background
The Wellingborough site were experiencing problems with moisture in the compressed air lines in a critical area. The flow balancing valves have an air supply going to them and they ensure the correct mix of wheat is blended. There are around 5 wheat bins, and each flow balancing valve take a certain percentage of wheat from each bin and add it to the mix. When a flow balancing valve is exposed to moisture it will not work very well, and this can impact the accuracy of the blend of wheat mix. When this problem occurred, it would lead to product wastage and spoilage, production downtime and a lot of time and maintenance rectifying the problem. Maintenance Manager Paul Wyatt wanted to put an immediate stop to this unnecessary problem and improve the efficiency of the site.
“Expel has solved the problem”
Paul Wyatt – Maintenance Manager – Whitworth Bros, Ltd.
Why did this site choose Expel?
Expel is not like any other compressed air filter currently on the market. Standard compressed air filters contain disposable internal elements which over time become saturated and need replacing. This means they become less and less effective with use and cannot guarantee protection against harmful compressed air contaminates like liquid water, oil emulsion fluids and solid particulates. Furthermore, it is not uncommon for sites to require up to 3 standard filters to remove all 3 of these substances from compressed air lines. The all-in-one Expel unit guarantees that all liquid water, oil emulsion fluids and solid particulates are continually removed down to 1 micron no matter how much it is used and the performance of Expel never reduces below 99.999%.
This was music to Maintenance Manager Paul Wyatt’s ears, because it is critical to the site that moisture did not reach pneumatic equipment and he was very keen to eradicate this problem for the site and boost efficiency levels. After testing an Expel unit, the site was astonished that they had finally found a solution to this costly problem. Since installing the Expel unit, we are very pleased to report that the site has not experienced ANY problems with the performance of the flow balancers, and the team are now looking at more areas across the site to install this revolutionary solution, to ensure all pneumatic equipment is fully protected.
THE RESULTS
Reduces Downtime
Reduces Costs
Reduces Maintenance
