+44 (0) 1702 549777
Hanningfield Process Systems
From February 2012, Hanningfield will be operating out of a new factory.
During the next week we will encounter some communication issues as we upgrade our computer server as part of the move. Please use the temporary e-mail address hanningfield@hotmail.co.uk for all e-mail correspondance until 9-February-2012.
From February 2012, Hanningfield will be operating out of a new factory. The new premises is twice the size of our previous factory and is a major step towards helping us offer an improved service for our customers across the globe.
The new address is:
17 Millhead Way
Purdeys Industrial Estate
Rochford
Essex
SS4 1LB
United Kingdom
Tel: +44 (0) 1702 549777
Fax: +44 (0) 1702 549888
Email: info@hanningfield.com
Website: www.hanningfield.com
During the next week we will encounter some communication issues as we upgrade our computer server as part of the move. Please use the temporary e-mail address hanningfield@hotmail.co.uk for all e-mail correspondance until 9-February-2012.
We look forward to this positive step and to showcasing our new facility to customers over the coming months.
“Firstly, I would like to take this opportunity to thank all those we have worked closely with this year, including our customers, suppliers, employees and many others along the way. This year we have strived to improve every area of the business, to ensure we are able to deliver the quality of solution and machine we pride ourselves upon. During this period of positive change, there are of course some instances where I would need to thank you for your patience and understanding as we look to make such improvements.”
“Generally, 2011 gave us great cause for optimism as sales increased, our team expanded and our equipment was successfully delivered to customers in Europe, North America, South America, Africa and Asia. The global reach of our machinery is a source of great pride for us and offers a rare ‘good news story’ for British engineering. I am pleased to see that the opportunities for next year look better still.”
“Finally, I would like to take this opportunity to formally announce our exciting news as we move to a new production facility from March 2012. The new factory is more than twice the size of our current location and will enable us to better serve our customers in offering the highest quality of product and service. The new facility will also incorporate a dedicated trial area, for testing your materials on our machines. Once we are up and running, I would be pleased to welcome your visit to our new facility.”
“On behalf of everyone at Hanningfield, I would like to wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. We look forward to working with you in 2012.”
Kind regards,
Colin Ellis
Managing Director
This year we have chosen to say ‘Merry Christmas’ using this e-mail. Instead of sending out printed cards, we have donated the money to a local charity, St Luke’s Hospice. We feel it is important to support local charities and further to help those which rely upon donations from others.
St Luke’s provide exceptional care to people who wish to see out the rest of their lives in a comfortable and caring environment. The services which are provided by St Luke’s cost them in excess of £3 million per year and we hope to develop our support further in the coming years to help St Luke’s with this.
We all wish you a Merry Christmas at Hanningfield and hope you support our efforts in helping local charities.
Hanningfield were pleased to participate in this year’s ISPE UK Affiliate Conference in Liverpool, UK, on 24th November 2011.
We would just like to say a quick ‘Thank You’ to everyone who came by and said ‘hello’.
The size reduction of agglomerated bulk material is imperative to the success of various processes such as milling and sieving. The SureBreak disperses large particles reducing the strain on downstream process equipment, enabling efficient operation without overloading. Moreover, pre-breaking is ideal for size reduction into machines with inlets too small to accept material in large pieces.
Agglomerated material is fed into the SureBreak and is forced between the breaker arms where it is crushed into smaller particles. By selection of the number and size of breakers, it is possible to select a suitable finished product. The SureBreak can be used for a variety of applications across the pharmaceutical, food, chemical and associated industries.
The above trial shows the Lump Breaker crushing large crispbreads to a smaller particle size. This process enables the the pieces to be small enough to fit into a cone mill or other downstream process.
We are able to offer free trials on your product at our UK Test Facility. If you are interested in testing your material on our size reduction systems, simply contact us.
Introduction
A customer was looking to replace their existing cone mill for a newer, updated design. The customer required the cone mill for a dry milling application in the pharmaceutical industry.
One concern the customer had was the build up of heat during dry milling. The product was extremely heat sensitive and required careful attention otherwise the screen would blind. To prevent heat building up too much the customer was running their existing machine for 10 minutes, then leaving it to cool for another 10 minutes, before running the machine again. This was causing production to take twice as long as necessary.
Our Solution
Hanningfield’s flexibility enabled us to look at the problem in detail and to design an appropriate solution, rather than merely offering ‘off-the-shelf’ technology.
The existing machine used gears to drive the gearbox. Hanningfield suggested the use of a belt to perform the same task, resulting in a significant heat reduction.
Alongside this, the customer realised the additional benefit of a reduction in noise, as the belt offered a quieter alternative to traditional methods.
The mill was also fitted with a screen temperature probe assembly. This monitored the screen temperature and would automatically shut down the machine if a certain temperature was reached. This prevented the need for constant operator supervision.
Results and Conclusions
Overall, the machine achieved the customer’s original goal of utilising an updated, more modern mill.
However, the benefit ran much deeper than this through the use of a belt to provide a cooler operation. In fact, the heat reduction was sufficient enough to enable the machine to be run continuously, without the need for downtime.
In an age where continuous and lean manufacturing is promoted, the customer was able to implement an improvement which would eliminate downtime and consequently ensure a better, more efficient process.
Due to this, the improvement offered the customer excellent return-on-investment and will ultimately pay for itself through increased production.
Key Facts
- Low Heat: Ideally, a machine is used to process a material, not to change its core characteristics. The low heat generated by the Hanningfield ‘Uni-Mill’ means that the milled product is not altered by the temperature created during grinding. Moreover, many hygroscopic products do not fare well under high temperature conditions. By keeping the temperature optimised, the mill does not negatively affect the product.
- Low Dust: Minimal dust generation is important as excess powder escaping to the atmosphere can be harmful for operators and potentially hazardous to the operating environment. The ‘Uni-Mill’ cone mill produces comparatively little dust compared with many alternative milling processes. Moreover, the Uni-Mill can be integrated with various other pieces of equipment to create a totally-contained, dust-free milling process.
- Low Noise: Minimising noise is desirable to help comply with Health and Safety requirements for maintaining a safe working process environment.
For more information on the Uni-Mill cone mill, please click here.
Hanningfield are a British engineering company who specialise in the design and manufacture of world-class machines for the pharmaceutical, food, chemical and associated industries.
We are looking for a talented engineer to join our design team, with a view to an immediate start.
Responsibilities
Creating general arrangement drawings, detailed manufacturing drawings, P&ID drawings.
Capable of conceptual mechanical design, including bespoke product design.
Creating Functional Design Specification (FDS) documents.
Creating Factory Acceptance Test (FAT) documents.
Capable of performing stress calculations, stress analysis, load calculations etc.
Creating standard test protocols for machines.
Creating Bill of Materials.
Creating recommended spares lists.
Requirements
Preferably degree qualified in an engineering-related subject (such as Mechanical Engineering, Design Engineering etc).
You should have a wealth of experience with 2D and 3D CAD, specifically AutoCad and Solidworks.
An in-depth knowledge of the engineering standards required by the pharmaceutical industry would be an advantage.
You must be highly analytical, with excellent attention to detail.
Outstanding personnel skills.
To apply, please e-mail your CV and covering letter to careers@hanningfield.com.
Introduction
A major pharmaceutical company was losing powder from tablet presses and capsule filling machines. This caused a dangerous cocktail of powders to form in the central dust extraction system and was also blocking the expensive HEPA filter at the heart of this system. Having heard of the cyclone, they approached Hanningfield to learn if the innovative dust containment system could benefit them - it could.
Our Solution
The cyclone was initially trialled by attaching it to a capsule filling machine, to analyse the effectiveness of the cyclone in capturing a standard pharmaceutical powder - the results were staggering. The filterless cyclone was able to capture over 95% of all excess powder, which is collected in a ‘catch-pot’ at the bottom of the cyclone. This allows the contents to be weighed for batch loss reconciliation, which is excellent for FDA compliance.
The real monetary saving, however, was in protecting the central HEPA filter. Each cyclone has an individual “police” HEPA filter which increases system efficiency to 99.99%, allowing the clean air to flow to the normal dust extraction unit.
As the equipment is designed to be retrofitted to any dust generating plant, process validation is not affected, making it ideal for both new and existing processes.
Results and Conclusions
The cyclone was an undoubted success and helped protect the main filter from continual blockage. This was very expensive to replace but required changing every 6
months due to the extreme wear and tear. The cyclone system has saved the central filter to make replacement much more infrequent, saving vast amounts of money and offering an incredible return on investment.
The system also helps protects operators by capturing excess dust in the process room, preventing the formation of a dangerous mix of powders. The customer was extremely pleased with the cyclone and now has more than 40 units installed worldwide.
Key Facts
- Capture Over 95% of Excess Dust: The Hanningfield cyclone is capable of capturing most of the dust lost during processing. For this case study, the customer was able to capture and collect over 95% of all powder. In-house trials have achieved results of up to 99.99% efficiency on a pharmaceutical powder.
- Protect Central Dust Extraction: By protecting the central dust extraction system, the customer made vast savings in time, money and improved hygiene, simply by installing the cyclone to their capsule filling machines and tablet presses. This ensured an excellent return on investment (ROI) by protecting the expensive filters in the central dust extraction system.
- Keep Operators Safe: By preventing a dangerous cocktail of powders from forming in the central dust extraction system, operators are kept safe. Instead, dangerous powders are captured in a ‘catch-pot’.
- Comply with FDA Guidelines: Comply with FDA Guidelines; By capturing excess dust in a ‘catch-pot’ the customer was able to undertake batch loss reconciliation, to account for the losses in processing. This is excellent practice and ensures compliance with FDA guidelines.
For more information on the Uni-Dust cyclone, please click here.
The loss of excess powder from compression and filling machines is one of the major problems in powder processing. Often, powder passing to the central extraction system wil cause downstream filters to block or a dangerous mix of powders to form in the central system itself. If filters blind they can be expensive and time-consuming to replace.
Hanningfield’s solution takes the form of a filterless recovery cyclone - the ‘Uni-Dust’. The cyclone can be fitted (or retrofitted) between the compression/filling machine and the LEV line inside the process room. The cyclone then separates the dense powder particles from the air, allowing clean air to pass down the LEV line and the solid powder material to be collected in a capture-pot at the base of the cyclone, ready for batch loss reconciliation. This capture-pot is also available with a safe-change facility to protect operators.
The Hanningfield Uni-Dust cyclone offers a best-practice solution to the problem of handling excess powder, with typical capture rates of over 95% on most pharmaceutical and food powders.
We are able to offer free trials on your powder at our UK Test Facility. If you are interested in testing your material on our cyclone, simply contact us.
