Siam Del Monte Reduces Product Loss by 90% with ThermoDrive Belting System

Customer Objectives

The Siam Del Monte plant in Thailand—part of the Kikkoman Group—produces corn products for export to Japan. The facility had three conveyors outfitted with traditional polyvinyl chloride (PVC) tensioned flat belts used to transfer product to the surge conveyor. During the process, some of the corn kernels were sticking to the belts and going back in the returnways. As a result, the company was experiencing a 20–30% product loss.

Using a scraper to help with product release damaged the kernels, further contributing to yield loss. Worse, the PVC belts cracked and frayed easily, adding product contamination challenges.

Siam Del Monte needed a solution that would increase product yield, decrease unscheduled downtime, eliminate holds and checks for contaminants, maximize belt life, and fit in the plant’s available footprint.

Intralox Execution

When plant officials decided to make a change, they asked their OEM specifically for an Intralox solution. Siam Del Monte installed ThermoDrive Embedded Diamond Top belting on a new incline-to-surge-conveyor. The belt’s surface provides excellent release in applications with sticky or wet products to reduce carryover and increase yield.

Intralox also supported the plant’s OEM with conveyor design and optimization, adding knocking mechanisms to aid product release and reduce product loss.

Results

Siam Del Monte replaced three PVC flat belt conveyors with a single Z-conveyor equipped with ThermoDrive Embedded Diamond Top belting from Intralox. Plant staff no longer need to monitor belt tension in this wet application since ThermoDrive technology is a tensionless system.

Product loss has dropped from 20–30% to just 2–3% and the plant has experienced no unscheduled downtime with the new conveyor. Since installation in December 2020, the ThermoDrive belt has operated smoothly—requiring no repair or replacement— and shows no signs of wear.