How Planet Dryers Revolutionized Food Processing with Solid Edge

The removal of humidity is a key stage in the production of foods such as breakfast cereals and savoury snacks. Without an effective drying process, there would be no satisfying crunch. In addition, food with moisture left in it will have a shorter shelf life – crisp breads, pasta and pet treats must be stable. To ensure that food items dry out evenly to the correct level, there has to be complete control of warm airflow.

Planet Dryers specializes in this area, designing customized drying, cooling, roasting and cutting machines that are used by large well-known companies producing globally familiar brands. The largest unit is more than 40 meters long, with even the smallest models measuring at least six meters. The company offers a range of airflow systems with single-pass, multi-pass and multi-stage conveyor band dryers, and conveyor drives of variable speed.

For Planet Dryers, the ability to utilize historical design data was a fundamental requirement. Solid Edge is fully compatible with any other format; it also provides the option of synchronous technology. Collins explains that he began by looking at old 2D designs and remodeling them using Solid Edge. He later attended a Majenta PLM course on synchronous technology. Collins notes, “It was exactly what I needed because I originally found the concept of synchronous technology intimidating. Now I use it on a daily basis.

“The flexibility that synchronous technology provides is astonishing. It enables me to accept files from any format, transfer data and amend a design without any reference to its history. It gives intelligence to a dumb shape, allowing me to change or remove attributes. I can, for example, see a circle, identify it as a hole and recognize the size and thickness so I can quickly amend a sheet metal pattern.”

Collins particularly appreciates the choice that Solid Edge offers. “If I know a product is always going to be similar in shape, then I use the ordered approach because we can control aspects of the design very clearly by making assumptions, automating processes and locking in definitions. On the other hand, synchronous technology is like working with clay, it allows more freedom during the actual design process. For example, after I’d designed a particular discharge chute, our process engineer advised me to taper the sides. This would have taken two hours in the ordered environment. With synchronous technology, it took one minute.”