When it comes to sausage, Weber Maschinenbau GmbH is one of the pioneers.
In the field of hygienic mechanical engineering, the group of companies from Breidenbach in central Hesse has found an equal partner in Neugart.
"With the Model 906 slicer, we have achieved a pioneering feat. This is the first machine of its kind in the world where an "open design" has been implemented systematically throughout", explains Andreas Harder, who, as a development engineer, was a major contributor to the development of this new generation of food-processing machine. It is used in the industry to process sausage, meat, cheese and similar products in exactly the same way as we find them on the shopping shelves in the end. And absolutely hygienic. One of the crucial pieces of the puzzle on the way to success was solved by Neugart.
But first things first: Why do we actually need slicers?
Slicers are powerful industrial slicers that process sausage, ham, meat and cheese products flexibly and precisely. And quite quickly. Such machines can perform up to 2,000 cuts per minute. Depending on the model, products up to 1600 millimeters in length as well as continuous products can be loaded and processed.
High-tech slicer in an open design
"This concept was only possible because we had highly flexible and reliable partners and suppliers at our side," says Philipp Held from strategic purchasing at Weber. The right design for the applications was provided by Neugart. The HLAE is the world's first planetary gearbox in Hygiencic Design that also meets the strictest international hygiene requirements and has been certified according to 3-A RPSCQC. It meets the more demanding requirements for components for the food industry and thus sets new standards. As a member of the European Hygienic Engineering and Design Group (EHEDG), Neugart is driving this development itself. The keys to success are:
Economical gearbox solutions
Planetary gearboxes from Neugart can be designed in a wide range of variants by using a modular principle. As a result, customers benefit from an economical purchase price - without sacrificing quality.
Used worldwide
There is probably no country in the world where there are no Neugart gearboxes in use. A close-knit network of experienced sales engineers is spread around the world. This way, someone is always there for you - no matter where you are.
Stability even under extreme conditions
The planetary gearboxes from Neugart can withstand a lot. Thanks to optimized sealing and application-dependent lubricants, our drives also function at minus 40 °C or are protected with the highest protection classes, such as IP69K.
Certified hygiene
We are the first planetary gearbox manufacturer in the world to receive 3-A RPSCQC certification to the exacting sanitation standard set by 3-A Sanitary Standards, Inc. This offers our customers the assurance of hygienic production.
It gets even better
Just what Weber needs. For 40 years, the German company has been building leading-edge systems for processing and slicing sausage, meat, cheese and other foods. Slicers, skinners, food robotics, product scanners - the Group's portfolio is diverse. And yet, with the Model 906, the company has entered new territory. Driven by existing customers and increasingly stringent food hygiene legislation, the management wanted to develop an even easier-to-clean and highly innovative machine with an open design. This offers the benefit that contaminants in any installed part can always be directly detected and eliminated.
Availability in a hygienic design
This is exactly what presented the developers with one of the biggest challenges right at the beginning. For machine areas with direct product contact, easy-to-clean solutions have been available for years. In the case of the drive train, however, hygienic components are still in their infancy.
Stacking, shingling, folding, placing
Uniform slice thickness, precise placement for further processing: The requirements for the new gearbox were ambitious. Nevertheless, this is exactly where Neugart was able to use its strengths and rely on its mature standard product range. Modified quickly and flexibly exactly in accordance to customer requirements: All materials used had to be approved according to FDA (U.S. Food and Drug Administration) specifications. Even the lubricant used has NSF-H1 approval to prophylactically rule out contamination.
Technology and understanding lead to success
For the open concept, all adjacent interfaces had to be adapted. Weber's experts received technical support in the form of the Neugart Calculation Program (NCP). This is free of charge, including the corresponding training, and is used by the Breidenbachers just as actively as the Neugart Tec Data Finder.
A look into the future
From installation to endurance tests to usage, the gearbox runs smoothly in the machine. The current concept is so forward-looking that even competitors are surprised at how consistently the hygiene design idea has been implemented. U.S. users in particular, as well as the relevant authorities and organizations, are impressed by Weber's advance.
“Neugart is professional and operates in a technically flexible way. The result is outstanding. From a visual point of view, the gearbox fits into our machine design in an optimum way. I was impressed by the tenacity with which Neugart has optimized the hygienic design of the gearbox until a standard product could be introduced to the market.”
Dipl.-Ing. Andreas Harder | Development and Engineering | Weber Maschinenbau GmbH
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