Picking up the Crumbs

iBulk: Tailoring Solutions for Clients Not Clients for Solutions

Quite often we take the simple things for granted, and one would imagine that making bread crumbs wouldn’t pose too many challenges, but think again.

New Food Coatings, a food product manufacturer found themselves facing quite an unusual problem, how to effectively and efficiently dry bread crumbs in order to prevent contamination, reduce the likelihood of mould setting in and ultimately prolong product life.  

“This was never going to be an off-the-shelf fix,” remarked Mr Tony Webber, managing director, iBulk. “When we started out, it quickly became obvious that our experience in dealing with unusual requests would really assist in providing a workable, cost effective solution.”

To identify, develop and design the process that would provide the desired results, iBulk’s R&D team worked closely with the client, whose parent company also provided valuable information, to bring together various elements that would ensure the project’s success.

iBulk is gaining a reputation in Australia for their ‘can-do’ attitude and when you consider that they combine this with A-grade manufacturing capabilities, you’ll quickly understand that their ability to design and build fine particle separation and processing equipment for the solid processing industry  is unique in this country.

“Delivering a solution that completely addresses the unique requirements of the project for New Food Coatings required us to work closely with the client and bring together a number of variables,” said Mr Webber. “But at the hub of this solution lies a fluid bed dryer and a SWECO separator.”

In this case the individually tailored solution included a fluid bed processing unit in which air or gas is passed through a bed of particulate matter via a perforated plate. This process lifts and mixes the solids as required.

“In addition we also added mechanical vibration to the system,” explained Mr Webber. “By continually agitating the material, the solids attain fluid like properties. This maximises the exposure of the particle surface areas to the process air, resulting in higher heat transfer rates and increasing operating efficiencies.

To top it all off, the process system that iBulk designed also allows New Food Coatings to mill the crumbs to specific sizes as required so it can be used in a wide variety of popular food items.

“You don’t find the question to fit the answer, you find the answer to fit the question and this is what we do at iBulk.  Our success lies in tailoring solutions for our clients not trying to make our clients fit our solutions” added Mr Webber.