Automated conveying of finished goods
Kolak Snack Foods is one of the leading UK crisp and snack producers employing more than 800 people with a turnover of c. £100 million.
The firm operates from London NW10 in a 250m sq ft factory producing 15 million bags per week that also saw the acquisition of Berkshire Foods Ltd, NC Snacks and Richmond Crisps.
In early 2017, UPM Conveyors was selected by Mark Kenny, deputy head of operations, to design a system for automating the conveying of finished goods from the production area to packaging / despatch.
This involved elevating boxes from ground level to 4m height through a tunnel over a service road and declining to the packing area for palletising which incorporated a powered roller S Bend and custom-engineered belt conveyors suitable for food production to comply with Health & Safety regulations.
The system has a PLC control to allow operators in both the production and packaging areas to interface with each other, including emergency pull cords and emergency stops.
Mark Kenny praised UPM for its cooperation with the installation as it was necessary to carry out certain aspects of the system over weekends to avoid any disruption to production and as a result of this relationship UPM is being considered for future projects with Kolak.
Kolak was awarded the “Gold Award” for outstanding achievements in the business arena which was presented by Keith Vaz MP.
