Case Studies

Food & Beverage

Case Studies:

DryTrac Removes Build-up and Drastically Decreases Friction, Eliminating Packing Delays and Stoppages

Opportunity

The customer is a bottled water manufacturer. The manufacturer utilizes lubricant on a plastic tabletop conveyor. The lubricant ensures that the containers on the line stay upright and easily move from one point on the conveyor system to the next, especially when changing directions or entering a process area. The lubricant also provides vital lubrication between components of the tabletop conveyor, including contact between the chain or belt and the rails and pins.
The manufacturer was utilizing a competitor’s glycerin-based dry lubricant technology within their process, with a regular demand of eight drums per month. This process resulted in two major areas of concern:
1. When a conveyor is changing directions, lubrication is particularly crucial in keeping bottles upright and fluidly moving. This was found to be a significant issue in the customer’s process. In two locations where the conveyor bends at an angle, bottles would regularly fall and jam, causing delays and line stoppages.
2. Glycerin-based lubricants scab when they dry. With constant use, more layers build up overtop of the dried material, resulting in a large amount of residue. As layers accumulate, product usage increases and conveyor optimization decreases.
These factors provided DuBois the opportunity to implement a solution to remove glycerin build-up on the belts, reduce delays and line stoppages, and improve belt life and process speed.

The DuBois Solution

DuBois partnered with the manufacturer to implement DryTrac, a high performance, dry conveyor lubricant that is applied using a brush mechanism in contact with the conveyor surface. DryTrac contains no oil-based carriers and dries on lines to keep them tack and residue free. DryTrac is also applied undiluted, using no additional water, to keep floors dry and minimize water usage.

Results and Benefits

The customer began with one drum of DryTrac. The single drum of DryTrac lasted 39 operational days, a drastic savings from the eight drums of competitive product used per month.

The product immediately started to remove the residue left behind from the competitive product and dried onto the lines to create a smooth, clean surface. The cleaner state of the chains also significantly decreased the friction on the line, allowing the bottles to glide evenly across the surfaces, even around corners, eliminating the regular line stoppages.

*Product must be applied using a brush mechanism, wherein the brush bristles of each brush remain substantially in contact with the conveyor surface wherever dry lubricant is being applied during conveyor operation