Is there really anyone who doesn’t like bacon? Bacon, the food we add to other foods to make them more delicious. Obviously, the answer is no. Bacon is one of the most delicious foods we have created, but do we really know what goes into making the delicious, salty treat?
Of course we all know that bacon comes from a pig, but how is bacon made? Bacon goes through a full production process that typically begins with a pork belly. The process begins with curing the pork by injecting it with or soaking it in ingredients such as salts and sugars. This is the most important process in bacon production and is what makes the cut of meat bacon rather than just pork. Thermal processing is the next step in the production process and is typically done by smoking the meat. Once thermal processing is complete, the bacon moves along the final stages of production, where it is chilled, pressed, sliced and finally packaged.
The production process used to make bacon calls for the use of numerous materials. Chemical materials such as ingredients and cleaning agents are typically contained in storage tanks until they are needed in the production process. The level of these materials should be monitored so the facility can accurately track inventory and prevent spills caused by overfilling the tank.
Overflow spills cause several problems in a production facility. Spills create a hazardous work environment, lead to costly to clean up, and risk production downtime. So what is the best way to monitor tank level and prevent spills from overflow? That is the exact question our customer had when they approached us looking for a solution to monitor a storage tank in their bacon production facility.
The customer was concerned with monitoring the amount of styrene, a hazardous chemical, that is held in a storage tank at their facility. For years the customer monitored this tank visually, but this was costing them valuable man-hours and the facility was experiencing several tank overflows a year.
Overflow of this hazardous chemical was a large concern for the customer due to the nature of the chemical after drying. When styrene spills, it dries as a hard waxy material that can only be removed from the floor by using a jack-hammer. This resulted in the customer shelling out $10,000 to $15,000 per spill for clean-up and downtime in production. Talk about an intense and costly cleanup!
Once we reviewed the customer’s application, we were able to provide them a simple solution for monitoring the level of styrene in the storage tank from a computer. We recommended monitoring the level of the hazardous material in the storage tank using our dual frequency radar level transmitter. This radar level transmitter provided a seamless solution for the customer that would not only provide accurate measurements of the hazardous material, but would connect with their existing 4-20 mA system.
By connecting to the customer’s current system, we were able to provide a measurement solution that was easy to install and integrate with no additional equipment required, allowing the customer to read the level measurement at their computers. Now the customer is able to monitor the tank level in real-time from the comfort of the office without fearing costly spills from tank overflow.
Do you have materials in your production process that are causing disruption? Contact APG! We'll work with you to find the right measurement solution to monitor your materials to ensure your production process is running efficiently.
