Martin’s Elevates Potato Chip Line with ThermoDrive Technology

Customer Objectives

Officials at the Martin’s Potato Chips plant in Thomasville, Pennsylvania, were rethinking the setup of their incline-to-packaging area. Their existing conveyors, which included chain-driven bucket elevators with plastic buckets, were unreliable and presented sanitation, safety, and product contamination concerns. Oil from the chips caused heavy buildup that required an employee to climb the incline and carry out a labor-intensive, time-consuming cleaning process.

Intralox Execution

Having experienced success with Intralox belting in other areas of the plant, Martin’s officials asked Intralox to review their inclines. Intralox recommended installing a new conveyor equipped with its ThermoDrive Series 8050 belting with Synchronized Sidewalls.

ThermoDrive belting’s 100% closed, homogeneous surface is quick and easy to clean, reducing both labor time and product contamination risks. ThermoDrive incline-to-packaging solutions ensure simpler sanitation, reliable performance, and uncompromised food safety to help protect product integrity and safeguard against foreign material contamination. These benefits are further enhanced when combined with the product control benefits of ThermoDrive Synchronized Sidewalls.

Results

Martin’s ThermoDrive installation was a tremendous improvement. It eliminated product contamination risks and reduced cleaning time by 20 minutes daily and one hour during weekend cleans, or more than two and a half hours per week. Cleaning has also been greatly simplified; the belt can be easily removed from the conveyor, and employees no longer need to ascend the incline.

Butch Potter, Martin’s Potato Chips Chief Operating Officer, is pleased not only with Intralox’s solution, but also with its service and equipment training. “We love the sanitary aspects of ThermoDrive’s design,” Potter says. “Intralox was easy to work with in designing and sizing the conveyor, and we achieved the flow rate we needed. Intralox worked with our conveyor builder to achieve a unique, simple, and easy-to-clean framework. The end result is a conveyor that gets the job done, has the best sanitary characteristics, and is easy to work with.”