How Conveyor Belts Are Suited to Each Food Processing Job

Conveyor belts and the food industry have a great relationship. It seems whenever a news station or television show gets access to a factory, hundreds of products zoom through production on a lightning-fast conveyor belt. Regardless of whether a company is producing boxes of crackers or moving fruit down a line, there’s a conveyor belt for every job.

The important part of this process is to tailor each specific belt to the product. Although it doesn’t always matter what weave is used, the metal is key. Our belts are available in carbon, galvanized, and stainless steel, and each is tailored to the specific food product and temperature.

For example, 304 stainless steel—one of the most versatile and popular forms of stainless steel—is standard for frozen foods. Surprisingly, on the other end of the temperature spectrum, most food applications in frying also use the 304 grade. This specific grade is made up of classic 18/8 stainless steel, and it’s the most common among manufacturers because it can be readily formed and has superior welding and forming capabilities.

Say a company made the mistake of using an incorrect material for their product, the processed food could be compromised and the belt could have major corrosion issues. The mechanical properties in these belts are very delicate and suited to each customer’s need, which is why there’s no reason to look elsewhere—for a trusted source of conveyor belting, head over to our website.

A Brief History of Conveyor Belts and the World They Ushered in

Conveyor belts have a long history as an integral part of
production from the coal to the automotive industry.

No history of the last century, or of the current one, would be complete without a history of the industrial conveyor belt. While conveyor belts have been in service since at least the dawn of the Industrial Revolution in England (the first such belts were made from leather or canvas and served as flimsy, short-distance transportation systems for sacks of grain), the scale and scope of their application continued to expand. By the turn of the 20^th century, conveyor belts were being used to unload materials of significant weight – things like lumber and wooden shingles – from out of railcars in Northern cities such as Minneapolis. With the discovery of electric energy and the consequent automation of production that electricity enabled, it was only a matter of time (1919) before the first automated “roller” conveyor was used for automotive production by none other than Henry Ford.

By the mid 1920s, conveyor belts were a “boomtown” industry. The developed nations in Europe and North America all strove to produce goods at a faster and more accurate rate than their competitors. Those who dwelt in the realm of hand-crafted or conventionally assembled products were caught off-guard and left in the wake of the Modern Era. During the Second World War, assembly lines became something of a national icon in America, in that they were used to churn out seemingly endless numbers of tanks, trucks, jeeps, fighters, and bombers for the Allied war effort against the Axis powers. The city of Detroit, birthplace of the Ford Motor Co. and the automotive assembly line, earned itself the new distinction as the “Arsenal of Democracy” on account of the sheer quantities of armaments it produced for American and Allied armies.

The basic science was already well in place by 1945, but improvements throughout the 70s, 80s, and 90s left conveyor systems with better means of control over their own operation. Utilizing a series of internally powered rollers and pulleys, these new generations of conveyor belts paved the way for the megalithic, high-efficiency conveyance systems we see in operation today. As it stands, the longest conveyor belt in the world is located in Western Sahara, where it is used in phosphate mining.

Even as the basic operating principals continue to hold, there are continuous tweaks, fine-tunings, and upgrades being made to conveyor systems and conveyor belt weaves alike by companies far and wide. We at Furnace Belt are a proud, long-standing player in an industrial sector that has become an iconic symbol of capital-I “Industry” itself. As the 21^st century rolls along, so shall we.

Ontario Food Cluster and the IFPT

Stretching from Toronto to Buffalo, NY, the so-called “Ontario Food Cluster” is a thriving agglomeration of some 3,200 food and beverage companies. Together they comprise Canada’s largest pool of agri-food talent, and the 2^nd largest in North America. With an innovative research climate and easy access to the global market, the Ontario Food Cluster has drawn some of the biggest names in the food industry. These companies have an estimated annual manufacturing revenue of $34 billion and employ 130,000 people directly in agri-food processing/manufacturing and wholesaling, along with another 483,000 workers in related sectors.

It is kind of hard to imagine the Ontario Food Cluster getting any more, but it just did. Recently the Cluster’s economic development executives attended the influential SIAL Brazil 2012 show to promote the new Conestoga College Institute of Food Processing Technology (IFPT). This innovative school was created in 2009 in partnership with the Alliance of Ontario Food Processors (AOFP) to allow for the development of a highly skilled workforce by providing education and training programs that meet the needs of the food and beverage industry. IFPT focuses on areas like food safety, food processing techniques, electronic instrumentation techniques, automation, robotics, packaging, and plant supervision. It is the perfect environment in which to learn the ins and outs of almost every aspect of the food and beverage manufacturing field. 

At Furnace Belt we find it especially good news that another generation is getting trained properly and effectively in the food processing and safety industry. Our belts are widely used throughout the companies in the “Food Cluster” and nothing is better than working hand in hand with fellow experts. If you want to learn more about IFPT you can visit their website