Having installed some Marlin Stainless motors and realised the payback period was just six months or less, The Village Bakery Coedpoeth Ltd is now planning to replace all of the moisture-exposed motors in its bakery.
"The economics of installing Marlin Stainless motors is just as much a driver for using them as the enhanced hygiene they offer," says Christien Jones, Engineering Director of The Village Bakery Coedpoeth Ltd, Wrexham.
"They reduce downtime, simplify cleaning operations and avoid the need to replace standard motors after around two months. We estimate payback time is less than six months."
Christien Jones is so pleased with the Marlin motors that he is planning to replace all moisture-exposed motors throughout the bakery. In fact he wants to be the first all-stainless bakery in the UK, according to Brian Wynne of Collister & Glover, the distributor for Marlin that introduced the product to The Village Bakery.
Currently The Village Bakery, which supplies customers all across the UK, is concentrating on replacing motors in the savouries department (meat pies, sausage rolls, pasties, etc) that are employed on the several egg glazing machines installed there. This is a particularly trying application because of the inherent adhesive characteristics of the natural egg, which makes cleaning difficult, as well as encouraging mild steel motor shafts to bond to the driving mechanisms connecting the motor to the egg dispersal fan.
Normal end-of-day cleaning operations with standard motors involves dismounting of motor guards (to minimise egg deposits), removing a mounting manifold that accommodates the motor and egg dispersal fan, and then cleaning the assembly. First the motor is cleaned by hand, which is a time-consuming operation due to the cooling fins, air intakes and other nooks and crevices where egg deposits can accumulate. The motor is then covered for protection while the other components are steam cleaned.
Now, with the Marlin IP66 smooth-bodied motor, the manifold and assembly is simply removed – no egg guard necessary – and steam cleaned as a total unit. Consequently, cleaning is easier, quicker and more effective.
The IP66 rating also means the Marlin motors are resistant to the ingress of moisture, which, despite the care taken to protect the standard motor, still occurs with standard motors, significantly reducing their working life - typically less than two months.
Efforts have been made to extend motor life by applying epoxy coatings, but these soon break down and, in themselves, create a hygiene risk.
Kristian Green, the engineer responsible for this project, also added that because the Marlin Motors are true metric IEC motors, the changeover to them is straightforward, being simple bolt-on replacements.
The Marlin motors supplied via Collister & Glover are TENV machines, which are available in ratings up to 0.75kW from 63 frame. TEFC motors cover ratings from 0.18 to 7.5kW.