One of the world’s largest producers of cookies used conventional plied and canvas belts for decades. They were required to change them every two to three months because the splice failed on the finger joints from following a belt path that included nine pulleys. This is typical of biscuit and cookie lines where dough is rolled and sheeted to a very thin gauge. Typically, scrapers are used on the return side on a number of these conveyors, causing additional damage to the belt surface. A Volta food grade flat belt was selected to match the pulley constraints and lasted for 26 months. This was over eight times the lifespan of the conventional belt. Many belts in the plant were replaced with Volta where scrapers were installed, and no damage was reported.
Volta Belts in Crackers & Bagels Production
The maintenance manager says: “Although a Volta belt is more expensive than the plied belt, at the end it turns out cheaper – because the cheap turned out to be expensive for us!”
