Saving face at Pacon Manufacturing

One of Mike Scaduto's most important projects was engineering a process for the manufacture and packaging of a new facial product for a major consumer goods partner.

To hit a critical price point for market success, Scaduto and the his project team first had to solve a material conveying challenge involving the use of volumetric auger fillers: the filling machines used to dispense powders, granulars, and flakes for packaging.

The Pacon Manufacturing vice president  came up with an innovative solution, he used a semi-custom pneumatic conveying equipment that works in sync with auger fillers. It was so successful in handling the problem, manufacturers using this type of equipment may want to take a second look.

Scaduto's project required high-speed conveying and dispensing of a blended powder inside two layers of non-woven material being ultrasonically sealed as the powder was dispensed.

This had to be done in a way that wasn't labor intensive, achieved high production speed, minimized environmental dust exposure, and, most importantly, maintained consistent size, density and texture for product quality control.

Volumetric auger fillers are typically used in slower fill applications, can be labor intensive to keep operational, and are susceptible to changes in fill-material size, density and texture due to their reliance on volume to dispense proper amounts.

"The chief problem was that in moving a powder, you typically change its size, density and texture, which affects product performance," said Scaduto. "In our case, the powder's self-lathering properties were critically affected by how the powder was conveyed to the auger fillers. If the powder particles became too small, the facial product self-lathered too fast. If the particles became too large, the self-lathering process took too long. Changing the density, component blend and texture would give us inconsistent fill rates or volumes, both unacceptable for quality control."

When Scaduto investigated traditional ingredient transfer methods such super sacks and screw conveyors, he found these had insurmountable drawbacks for his application.

The super sacks -- big bags placed over each hopper with pull strings to dump product -- were a cumbersome open system vulnerable to powder dusting and potential dust explosion. It would be labor intensive to hook each heavy sack to an overhead system, to physically pull a dump cord at the appropriate times, and to take down and re-fill each depleted sack. Moreover, during hook up and refill, the manufacturing process would be interrupted. And to use super sacks over each hopper, Scaduto would've had to build an elevated production room with a protective mezzanine around it, which was simply cost prohibitive.

Screw conveyors, which transfer product through a tube with a turning screw inside, initially looked attractive to Scaduto due to their automation and minimal dusting problem.

"Screw conveyors in this case proved unsuitable because they degraded powder particle size due to product shear, compaction, grinding and friction," said Scaduto. "They also contained too many moving parts, which posed a hazard not only for breakage, but also for product safety. If a screw conveyor-mechanical part were to break off in the powder, it could end up in the product, which is unacceptable."

A positive air-based conveying system looked promising but disrupted particle size too much when transported through piping. Like the other methods considered, it also would've taken more production floor space than desired, and would've been difficult to sanitize during cleaning and maintenance with a 70 percent alcohol-water solution.

The solution
Scaduto turned to Belleville, N.J.-based Vac-U-Max, an expert in the design and manufacture of pneumatic systems and support equipment for conveying, batching and weighing of dry materials.

As Pacon Manufacturing was still developing its powder formulation, Vac-U-Max ran the first of many conveying tests at its in-house test lab. Each time Pacon Manufacturing re-formulated its powder blend during product development, a new trial was run to maintain or improve powder consistency.

"After the first trial, we realized we were in the right place," said Scaduto. "The system doesn't force powder mechanically. There are no moving conveyor parts in contact with the powder to disturb it. Moreover, they understood our dilemma regarding powder quality and performance, and always found a solution to the problem we were having."

Vac-U-Max installed a semi-custom pneumatic conveying system at Pacon Manufacturing's plant, adapting standard components to their processes and product.

Two low-profile drum dump stations for easy loading, powered by negative vacuum through convey line piping to three auger fillers comprised the system.

The auger fillers were provided by another company and integrated into the system. One drum dump station supplies powder to a single auger filler, the other supplies the remaining two auger fillers.

On installation, the conveying expert worked with Pacon Manufacturing to adapt the system to their needs. Instead of hanging the convey piping from the ceiling or supporting it from the floor, they mounted it on machinery to better accommodate a vertical receiver adjustment mechanism Scaduto designed.

The result was a modular system easy to install or relocate, which took significantly less production floor space than typical material convey systems.

Since powder can change density in the auger filler head leading to improper fills, keeping the head full and at proper density was critical. For proper powder density in the auger filler heads and more accurate fills, the conveying expert mounted the powder receivers with customized multi-filters above the auger fillers. They also applied a high polish finish to the conveyor system interior and exterior. This reduced powder sticking inside the system and made the exterior easier to clean.

"They modified the powder receivers several times to help transport our powder even more smoothly without degradation," said Scaduto. "They customized standard components to fit our processes and product. This reduced the potential of powder degradation and ultimately maintained powder quality."

Because the conveying system is automated and adapted to Pacon Manufacturing's processes, it not only saves them labor costs, but makes production more efficient, reliable and flexible. A device checks powder level at each of the three auger filler hoppers. When more powder is needed, pre-determined volumes of powder are automatically delivered to fill the hoppers.

"Each hopper always holds the same level of powder, so we never run out as long as the dump stations remain filled," said Scaduto. "Vac-U-Max simplified the process to basically dumping a drum of powder into the stations every few hours. Because the process is continuous, we never have to stop the machines to fill them up. That maximizes production time with minimum labor, and allows us to run 24/7 if needed."

The convey system also minimizes environmental dust exposure with easy maintenance and cleaning. Each drum dump station has an integral dust hood, dust collector, gas spring assisted lift doors, and no glued in gaskets. The baffled hoods direct air and dust down and back, and are removable for cleaning without tools. The modular convey pipes have a specially designed receiver for quick assembly/disassembly without tools and easy cleaning as well.

Similarly, the drum dump stations are fabricated with no crevices, the fewest possible welds, and with interior bends and corner welds a minimum of 1/8-inch radius to minimize material accumulation. A line discharger purges the conveyor system at the end of each convey cycle to prevent fallback powder and make restarts easier.

"At the volume of powder we use each hour, it would've been hard to keep the auger filler hoppers filled by any other means than vacuum transfer from bulk storage," said Scaduto. "We couldn't have brought in somebody from the outside and got what we did from their staff. Based on our success of auger filling with their pneumatic conveying system, we're now looking at creating additional powder-filled products for the cosmetic and surface care industries."

Back to top

Back to Web-exclusive articles archives