75% Downtime Reduction at Changeovers for Contract Blender & Packer Since Installing BFM®’s

For more than five decades, Richard Whittaker Ltd has been a specialist in the blending, packing, and supplying industry in the UK. With over 120 employees, they operate 24 hours a day, utilizing state-of-the-art filling machines to pack products into various bags, packs, tubs, and sachets ranging from 10g to 1000kg.

Operating multiple lines in the main production area, the nature of contract packaging means the company frequently changes products, sometimes up to 10 times per week per line. Each change prompts a thorough cleaning of the equipment, including removing and replacing the flexible connectors between each piece of machinery.

In 2015, these flexible connectors were identified as common problem areas in the plant, both in terms of production efficiency and sustainability going forward.

Hose-Clamped Connectors Difficult & Time-Consuming to Replace

Richard Whittaker's flexible connectors above their filling machines were "carrier bag-like” and held in place by jubilee clips. They weren’t ideal in terms of performance, as powders still leaked out through the clamps, and with each product changeover, removing and replacing these connectors was very time-consuming.  

The location of the connectors also presented a challenge, being some 3.5 metres above the floor.

The combined difficulty of access and actual physical clamp removal and replacement made the frequent connector replacements particularly time-consuming. Each line and product change required around 20 minutes. With an average of 10 line changes per week, that was equating to significant downtime!

Unsustainability of Disposable Connector Use

Another factor that the company was looking to remedy was the lack of sustainability of the connectors being used.  

The nature of the material and style of connector meant they could not be reused and were disposed of each time a product was changed on a processing line – equating to thousands of plastic connectors each year.

Seeking a more efficient, eco-friendly alternative, their maintenance manager contacted BFM® fitting’s UK Distributor, ProSpare Ltd, to help them reduce changeover times and wastage.

BFM®’s Snap-fit Seeflex Connector System Recommended

A ProSpare process improvement engineer conducted an assessment at Richard Whittaker Ltd, and after considering their challenges, recommended replacing the "carrier bag-like" connectors with BFM® fittings.

BFM®'s snap-in technology ensures a 100% dust-tight seal and facilitates quick, simple, and tool-free changeovers. BFM®’s most popular connector material, Seeflex 040E, was chosen for both its durability and transparency to give product flow visibility.

The BFM® system was installed on two of the main production lines in 2015 and have now been in operation for almost a decade – with impressive results.

Downtime For Changeovers Drastically Reduced

Richard Whittaker’s has seen the BFM® fitting as a game-changer.

Previously, connector changeovers took 20 minutes per line change, occurring up to 10 times weekly. With the BFM® fitting, changeover time is now reduced to just 5 minutes, representing a 75% reduction. Much of this time is spent gaining access to the connector itself. This translates to a saving of approximately 250 hours annually.

The transparency of the Seeflex 040E connectors has also been an added bonus as it lets the team quickly monitor the product flow.  

“I like that BFM® allows us to visually see the product flowing through the line and how well it contains the products” said the site’s Maintenance Manager, “but most importantly, I like how easy it is to replace BFM®.  From a maintenance perspective, it saves us hours of time per week on downtime and cleaning!”

More Sustainable Supply Chain

The BFM® fitting system has also allowed Richard Whittaker’s to achieve a more sustainable supply chain than the previous bag-like disposable connectors being used.

Today, two to three BFM® fitting connectors are used in rotation on each line, with each connector lasting up to three years. In contrast, the previous disposable bag-like connectors were replaced after each product change, resulting in the disposal of an estimated 1000 connectors annually across the two lines.

Over the past nine years, that equates to an estimated 9,000 plastic connectors that are no longer being disposed of.

On top of the more than 2,000 production hours they’ve gained, it’s an impressive return on investment!

Find out more about ways BFM® fitting can help you reduce downtime.