OTEC Präzisionsfinish GmbH OTEC mass finishing solutions for the food industry

Machine components manufactured by casting, milling, or turning for food production have rough surfaces and unrounded, burred edges. This creates a habitat for food residue and microorganisms, unstable component edges, food contamination by fragments, high component wear, and thus short service life. Efficient mechanical surface finishing solves these problems.

Smooth surfaces and stable edges are particularly important when the component comes into contact with food, as the primary goal is to produce hygienically safe food in the long term.

The second goal, among others, is to produce, fill, and package as much food as possible with one system—without machine downtime, rejects, or food contamination. Part of achieving both goals is the post-processing of components that come into contact with the food itself or its packaging during production. Manual post-processing of components is wasting potential cost and time savings. The solution is offered by automated processes that are repeatable and reliable.

Smooth surfaces and stable edges of conveyor screws in extruders ensure good flow behavior of the conveyed material without the risk of contamination by adhesions or fragments of the system components.

For example, seaming rollers used to seal cans are subject to high levels of wear due to friction due to their function. Regular polishing of the tools can extend their service life and maintain consistent machining results. Reduced surface friction minimizes the required force and lubricant consumption.

When manufacturing packaging materials such as screw caps, it is important that the mold has a very smooth, polished surface. This allows the finished cap to be easily removed from the mold. If the caps adhere to a rough mold, they will change shape upon removal, leading to increased waste. The very smooth mold surface increases the output.

Manual reworking or reconditioning after a certain number of operating hours is a laborious, time-consuming task with a high risk of injury for the operator. With the available grinding tools, complex, internal geometries can only be machined very unevenly, making consistent quality and processing time difficult to achieve.

The OTEC-developed