Intralox Supports Whole Poultry Plant Upgrade with Comprehensive Solution and Services

Customer Objectives

One of Asia’s largest poultry processors, Fujian Sunner Development (“Sunner”) manufactures products for both the domestic market and export. To meet high demand, its #4 poultry processing plant in Guangze, Fujian Province, needed to process 260,000 chickens per day across two lines. Achieving this throughput required a large labor force of more than a thousand workers.

Many parts of the plant, including its cutting lines, were fully manual; moving product required dozens of trolleys and a large number of crates. The previous friction-driven conveyors the plant did have were equipped with tensioned polyurethane (PU) belting, which was prone to slipping and mistracking, required frequent maintenance, and needed replacement on occasion.

To improve efficiency and decrease dependence and stress on labor, Sunner embarked on a major project to automate operations across its entire plant. In addition to automation, food safety and sanitation were other major project goals. Plant officials knew the potential hygiene risks associated with tensioned polyurethane (PU) belting—including cracks, difficulty cleaning the backside and inside of the conveyor, and related foreign material risk—and wanted to avoid them.

Intralox Execution

Sunner’s broad list of project requirements included:

• More than 3000 sq m of food-safe, modular plastic conveyor belting across several different conveyor types, including horizontal, incline/decline, and radius conveyors
• Exceptionally quick delivery and installation of the belts
• Seamless coordination of multiple equipment manufacturers
• Value-added services to help plant workers adapt to new sanitation protocols and ensure proper hygienic performance

For all of these, Sunner cautiously turned to their project partner: Intralox.

Intralox equipped Sunner’s conveyors with Intralox® FoodSafe™ belting. FoodSafe belts are made from cleanable, durable, and chemically resistant materials that address food manufacturing challenges, including belt-related foreign material risk. The belts were manufactured and delivered in just 45 days, a timeline that other belt suppliers in the region would have difficulty meeting.

In addition, the Intralox team consulted with Sunner on installation, sanitation, and optimizing the application. They also provided on-site support and helped coordinate multiple equipment manufacturers during the rapid two-week installation. Commercial Food Sanitation (CFS), an Intralox company, conducted extensive sanitation and conveyor design training with Guangze plant personnel.

Results

The collaboration between Intralox, Sunner, and the equipment manufacturers has transformed operations at the Guangze #4 poultry processing plant. Sunner has significantly reduced its labor needs while continuing to achieve its throughput targets and experiencing zero downtime since installation. Dozens of trolleys and a large number of crates have been eliminated, and stock inventory needs for belting and spare parts have been greatly reduced.

Since being installed in February 2019, Intralox’s FoodSafe belts have caused no slipping or mistracking. The belts have required only minimal maintenance and have proven far more durable than tensioned PU belt. Plant officials are pleased with both the hygienic performance of the FoodSafe belts and Intralox’s comprehensive services and support. Within one year of the installation, Intralox had performed multiple system health checks, and 40 Sunner employees had undergone CFS sanitation and conveyor design training. Intralox will continue to perform yearly onsite maintenance service in addition to ongoing service and support.