IBIE Preview: Intralox Provides Solutions to Mitigate Risk

Part of Worldbakers’ IBIE SPECIAL EDITION 2022, we interview important exhibitors about what they bring to IBIE, so readers know what to expect at the Baking Expo that takes place between September 18-21, 2022, in Las Vegas. Today we interview Jeremy Shall, Intralox North America Baking and Snack Industry Team Leader.

Intralox will be focusing on providing solutions that reduce unscheduled downtime and provide fault tolerant options to help mitigate risk for customers. We will have our Bakery and Snack industry specialists, Food Safety specialists, and platform specialists all on hand to answer questions.  

As far as our technology, this year we will be showcasing our AIM Glide technology, which provides a more reliable option for switching bread. This solution eliminates many of the inherent issues that older slat switch technologies present. Repairs can be done in a fraction of the time providing bakers with an opportunity to eliminate unscheduled downtime and reduce maintenance by 75%.

We will also have our new Series 2400 HDE belt on display which is the strongest, most reliable radius belt in the food industry. This belt has helped bakers extend the belt life of their radius belt, a common problem for radius belts. 

In addition to AIM Glide and the Series 2400 we will be showcasing a conveyor loop featuring several key technologies:

• Side drive conveyor that can be used for extended conveyor runs, eliminating transfers and allowing for improved conveyor layouts.
• Direct Drive spiral – Patented spiral technology developed by Intralox that provides improved orientation, elimination of challenging overdrive settings, and a more fault tolerant solution.
• Incline/Decline using Protrax –  our magnetic belt option
• 2300 ZTR  -Zero tangent radius conveyer allowing for smaller footprints and improved layouts.
• 560 tight transfers – strongest tight transfer micro-pitch belt in the industry.

Labor and supply chain challenges are impacting the industry. We hear from our customers that they are looking to add automation to offset some of these labor challenges, while also trying to increase product quality and consistency. 

Food safety is always top of mind as well, while regulations continue to increase. The addition of sesame to list of allergens is a great example of these increased regulations that our customers are preparing for. Foreign material contamination is also a focus area and we’re looking at ways to develop more fault-tolerant solutions to help mitigate these risks.