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Balaji Wafers – smooth moves for India’s famous fast food

Balaji Wafers began as a family owned micro business selling snacks to moviegoers in the Indian city of Raijkot. Forty years on the Virani family employ more than 1800 people in multiple production plants that process up to 100,000 kg of potato wafers and 500,000 kg of assorted savoury snacks every day.

 

In 2014 Balaji needed to upgrade their Rajkot production plant.

 

The Challenge

 

Snack foods are more complex than they look. Balaji wafers use a huge number of powders and a range of granulated ingredients of various sizes. These ingredients also present a number of challenging materials handling characteristics individually and in blends.

 

As the product range expanded, Balaji’s existing conveyor was simply not up the job. Faced with moving multiple complex blends it proved to be dusty, unreliable and expensive to run.

 

Balaji needed a safe, fast, fully enclosed system capable of conveying blended products without damage or separation.

 

The Solution

 

Balaji consulted Kiron Group’s Food Processing Technologies (FPT). As a highly skilled and experienced Floveyor partner organisation, FPT were confident that our energy efficient, high-volume aero-mechanical conveyor could provide the ideal solution.

 

FPT tested Balaji’s materials using their demonstration Floveyor at their Mumbai headquarters. These trials convinced the Virani family that they’d found the simple, efficient versatile conveying solution they needed.

 

In June 2014 FPT received and order to the supply and install an F3 Floveyor equipped with 3.3m centers (3” diameter tubes) driven by a 1.1 kW motor.
FPT also fitted a small inlet hopper to the blender outlet allowing for seamless processing. Mounting the motor at floor level made for simple speedy maintenance.

 

The Floveyor’s modular design, economical running costs and easy adaptability to existing plant make it a matchless conveying solution for upgrades and expansions.

 

After a year of flawless, energy efficient operation from their original F3 Floveyor, Balaji installed two more F3s in their manufacturing facilities in Valsad and Indore.

 

Floveyor at Balaji WafersFloveyor at Balaji Wafers