As the world's largest food manufacturer with plants in over 70 countries, Nestlé places a high priority on both hygiene and safety.
One of Nestlé's factories in South Africa was concerned with flour leakage in a production line that was producing wafers for confectionery products. This Nestlé ESAR (East and Southern African Region) plant wanted to provide a cleaner workplace and address the potential explosive risk the leaking flour posed in an ATEX environment.
Fortunately, the BFM® fitting system has already undergone Nestlé’s strict compliance process to be approved for use in their plants globally, so the team at Nestlé ESAR contacted local Authorized BFM® distributor, Capack Pty Ltd, to assist in upgrading the wafer line connections.
The connections between a vibrating feeder at the bottom of a silo and a screw feeder and from a screw feeder and a drum drier were causing Nestle serious concern. The connectors were silicone rubber tubing, hose clamped to the pipework, and they fed cake flour into the wafer production line.
Despite the best efforts of staff, flour continually leaked out between the connectors and the pipes, even when double clamped. Powder built up on the plant surfaces and was present in the atmosphere of the factory, and, being an ATEX environment, it presented a real risk of being a fuel source for a secondary explosion.
The constant clean-up of the powder in the general production area was not sustainable, and the explosion risk needed addressing.
Local BFM® fitting Distributor Capack Pty Ltd, recommended installing BFM® fitting Seeflex 040E connectors on both troublesome locations. At the base of the silo, the pipework was tapered and adapted to fit the BFM® spigots and a slightly tapered BFM® fitting was installed above the screw feeder.
The twin outlets feeding from the screw feeder to the drum drier didn’t need regular access so the pipework was adapted, and now only one flexible connector is required.
The internal seal of the snap-fit BFM® fitting connectors means that the connections are now 100% sealed and dust no longer leaks into the plant environment. They are also much easier to take out and replace when cleaning needs to be done.
The reduction of dust in the environment has drastically reduced the explosion risk for the plant.
“We’re impressed with how much cleaner and safer the plant is since installing the BFM® fitting connectors. The ATEX risk has been
dramatically reduced and the process itself didn’t need to change. The staff also love how much easier it is to remove and reinstall the
connectors for cleaning compared to the old, time-consuming hose-clamps.”
- Engineering, Nestlé ESAR
Case Study provided courtesy of BFM® Distributor Capack Pty Ltd (South Africa)
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