Compressed Air Best Practices - September 2008 - (Page 22) | 09/08 Focus Industry FOOD PACKAGING & PROCESSING | BY COMPRESSED AIR BEST PRACTICES™ Mankind may not live on bread alone, but bread plays an important role in our diet. It plays such an important role, in fact, that bread baking is a critical component of the economy. Not surprisingly, baking bread has grown to become a major, round-the-clock operation for commercial bakeries that supply restaurants, institutions and homes with an enormous assortment of breads and rolls. Even as economies of scale enter the picture, one major commercial baker remembers to keep the big picture in mind. “At Pepperidge Farm we think of ourselves as bakers, not manufacturers,” says Noel Skwiot. “We just bake a lot of bread.” Skwiot, Project Engineer at the Pepperidge Farm bakery in Bloomfield, Connecticut U.S.A., works to ensure that the baking operation runs smoothly and efficiently. “I work with everything from environmental and safety issues to specifying new equipment to any project that comes in the door, really,” he explains. Among his responsibilities is the facility’s compressed air system. “Our compressed air is a utility, just like electricity or natural gas,” says Skwiot. “We need air to run, and we need a good robust system that works reliably. Primarily we use compressed air for fluid power applications. For example, we have a system of flour conveyors that move flour from silos outside to various mixers. Giant diverter valves, the size of a five-gallon pail, open to allow flour to flow to the appropriate mixer. These diverter valves are powered by compressed air pilot valves. We also have a lot of cylinders that use compressed air to move mechanical linkages for the different bakery machinery, such as conveyors and packaging equipment.” Pepperidge Farm Bakery uses compressed air for fluid power applications in the flour conveyors. 22 www.airbestpractices.com http://www.airbestpractices.com
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