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"Indian cos lag behind in ensuring proper metal systems"
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Monday, 16 January, 2017, 08 : 00 AM [IST]
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 Technofour Electronics Pvt Ltd (TEPL) is a part of Technofour Group. It is among the leading solution providers in product checking systems for the food, fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG), chemical and pharmaceutical industries. TEPL manufactures metal detectors, dynamic checkweighers, pin hole detectors and combo deduster systems. In a one-to-one conversation with Lucy Fernandes, Suresh Subramaniam, general manager, TEPL, spoke about the salient features of the company’s metal detector system. Excerpts:
Brief us about your company, its products and their applications in the food and beverage industry.
The group started in 1972. We are mainly into metal detectors and checkweighers for the food and beverage industry. Metal detectors are used to check metal contamination in food products, ensuring the safety of the product. Technofour Electronics Pvt Ltd started manufacturing metal detector system in the early 1980s. These systems are based on the Eddy Current principle. These are highly sensitive systems and can detect all metal contamination, including non-magnetic stainless steel particles. The systems are designed and manufactured to meet the stringent requirements and hygienic standards of the food and pharmaceutical industries.
Checkweighers ensure that proper weight product cases are sent to the end customer as per the requirement of PCRO laws. TEPL also provides various types of accessories/attachments to integrate with the checkweigher system as the plant/product line requirement, such as product separators for cartons/sutures, separator and stabiliser mechanisms and others for cylindrical products, have different configurations in rejection mechanisms to suit the product.
Where does India stand compared to developed countries for metal detection technology in food and beverages? How significant is the application of metal detectors in the food and beverage industry?
Vis-a-vis those in developed countries, Indian companies still lag behind in ensuring the proper metal systems in their manufacturing lines. However, slowly, because of the strong presence of multinationals entering the Indian market and the enforcement of quality norms, India companies are also now looking to implement metal detector systems and checkweighers in their product lines.
What are the technological advancements taking place in metal detectors?
We are working towards achieving higher sensitivity as well as ensuring audit trials and statistical data generation so that the audit requirements are fulfilled.
The salient feature of our metal detector systems is their high sensitivity, even for non-magnetic stainless steel, which is the most difficult metal to detect. We also provide customised automation.
Extremely sensitive detection for all type of metals, HMI displays, auto product tracking, validation using prompts, rejection with fall safe mechanism, statistical data with event time stamping, digital gains filters for enhanced sensitivity, etc. are some of the salient features of our systems.
How well have metal detectors, one of the ways to ensure the safety of food products, been adopted by the Indian food and beverage industry?
As mentioned earlier, India is slowly looking at implementing the safety norms, so that they can compete in the global market. Hence, metal detection systems are now been looked at as a mandatory requirement. Currently, most in the industry look at magnetic filters, which can take care of ferritic contaminants. However, very few have looked into the visibility of implementing total metal detector systems which can detect ferrous (iron), non-ferrous and stainless steel, due to limitations such as the availability of space and packaging materials.
Tell us about the products offered by TEPL.
Our metal detectors and checkweighters have been designed indigenously using the best available components in the world, Their sensitivity is at par with the best in the world market today. We also provide customised solutions.
What makes your company different from your competitors with regard to the technology you offer?
We have grown over a period of time. We started with metal detectors and now provide total solutions for metal detection and checkweighters. We are now looking at other inspection systems, so that all the inspection systems for food, beverages and pharmaceuticals are available under one roof.
In almost all food and beverages, metal detectors plays a vital role. These systems are helpful in maintaining stringent quality norms. Our metal detectors are used to check metal contamination from the incoming raw material to the final processed product. This helps in reducing the manufacturing losses due to damage of machinery components and also enables reaching of the final product in the market free from metal contamination. As there are different applications in the food, pharmaceutical, FMCG and chemical industries, the design of metal detector systems for these carried applications are different. TEPL manufactures these systems according to the application and provide foolproof solutions.
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