The two organisations have successfully trialled a pilot scheme using microwave sensors designed by the university. These sensors are located in the company’s UHT production plant, which manufactures a broad range of ambient stable food products such as sweet and savoury sauces, glazes, dairy cream alternatives and desserts.
Pipes are flushed with water for cleaning between products and, to retain sterility of the plant, the current process relies on timers to judge when product has fully displaced water and can start to be packed off. This creates a significant amount of waste, which leaves scope to improve efficiency.
The research project – facilitated by Censis, the Scottish Innovation Centre for Sensor and Imaging Systems – developed a new, patented microwave sensor that can detect, to within a second, the presence of a pure product in the process, displacing all water.
The patented system will now be deployed full-scale in the Macphie production process line, which Ashley Baker, head of research and development at Macphie of Glenbervie, said would deliver three major benefits:
• more efficient new product development
• improved efficiency of production
• reduced environmental impact.
“Our success in a market dominated by a number of very large players is because of our ability to offer new, more convenient and high quality products,” said Baker. “That requires innovation through R&D, which is at the heart of everything we do.
“This project is a significant step for us and allows us to be more flexible and responsive to the changing demands of the market and our customers. It will help us produce more efficiently, lessen our impact on the environment through reduced waste, and increase our production yields. It will also make it easier for us to switch production from product to product and make developing new products a much more efficient process.”
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