Harborage: What It Is and How We Reduce Sanitation Problems with Our Food Assembly Equipment

Maintaining sanitation on a commercial level is one of the most important standards food industry companies and manufacturers should meet. The  U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), Food and Drug Administration (FDA), World Health Organization (WHO), Centers for Disease and Control (CDC), and many other global organizations set requirements and standard operating procedures for every type of player in the food industry. These include setting regulations for farms, food shippers, processors, packers, storage providers, stores, commercial distributors, commercial kitchens, and companies that manufacture equipment used at any step of the process. At Forpak, we design and build innovative solutions for food packaging equipment that will be used in facilities in the bakery, meat, and pizza industries. Our food assembly equipment features intelligent controls, full wash-down capabilities, quality control systems, and overall efficiency for automated stackers, conveyors, autotransfers, laners, sorters, and discrepant product rejection. We also work with clients who require unique equipment for their facilities, designing custom products that can be easily integrated into existing factory settings. All our equipment can be installed quickly and easily in current facilities or new workspaces, and our preventative maintenance program provides ongoing support to all customers.

Food Assembly Equipment

One of the great benefits of our food assembly equipment designs and their ability to receive full sanitary wash-down and cleaning is the elimination of harborage and other potential risks to food safety. Harborage, in particular, is a danger to food safety and the hygiene of any food processing facility.

Definition of Harborage Pertaining to Food Safety

While the word harborage can be a positive term in regards to shelter for ships and other vessels or as a description of a safe place, it quickly becomes negative when applied to the food industry. Harborage in food processing facilities or equipment refers to any place where pests, bacteria, old food particles, viruses, and any other dangerous contaminants can hide. Harborage is often used to define places where larger pests like rodents and insects can find shelter, but it also includes microscopic organisms that can contribute to the spread of foodborne diseases. For example, bacteria like E. coli, Salmonella, and Trichinella carried in food products can all cause serious illness. These bacteria and many other pathogens can be eliminated by removing potential harborage and improving sanitation practices.

Reduce Risk of Harborage

Forpak equipment reduces the risks of harborage in any facility thanks to watertight NEMA 4X Watershed Enclosures, stainless steel parts, and modular belting. Building with these components allows all of our equipment to be washed down with powerful cleaning solutions and heavy-duty spray. Not only does this increase hygiene in your facility, it also reduces production downtime because it speeds up cleaning protocols.

For more information on how we remove issues of harborage from our food assembly equipment, contact Forpak at (612) 419-1948 or forpaksupport@multisourcemfg.com. Request more information online today or request a quote to get started wit

Just-in-Time Delivery and Lean Manufacturing with Design & Build Practices

 

MultiSource Manufacturing LLC was founded in 1998, more than 30 years after the use of lean manufacturing solidified in most automotive and other industrial plants. The “Toyota Way” or lean, just-in-time manufacturing utilizes precise operations to eliminate waste, reduce inventory, and prevent unnecessary production. Lean manufacturing is better for customers, suppliers, original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), the industrial world, and even the environment. Since our foundation, we have made it our mission to practice lean manufacturing and make just-in-time delivery a core value. Today, we offer precision based design & build services to a wide range of industries to supply components, parts, and full assemblies to OEMs and many other customers. Not only do we provide innovative solutions for the food industry that meet high sanitation standards, we also build complex, highly regulated parts and assemblies for the medical device, semiconductor, and defense industries.

Design & Build

As a design & build contract manufacturer, MultiSource is able to provide one-stop-shop services for any project. From the ground up, we work with clients to turn their specifications into a fully developed prototype that is then manufactured to scale in size and quantity, including packaging in-house and shipping for just-in-time delivery.

Benefits

There are many benefits of lean manufacturing and just-in-time delivery practices, not only for us as a company, but also for all of our customers. Some of those advantages include:

Cost Savings:

Because we can limit costs for materials and production time by only manufacturing exactly what we need to comprehensively meet the specifications of all customers, we can also provide more affordable and efficient services to our clientele.

Waste Reduction:

Every aspect of our production, from materials to worker output, sees waste reduction with lean practices. This also includes elimination of wasted time, overused storage space, energy, and excess equipment maintenance.

Continuous Improvement:

By following the lean manufacturing standard of kaizen, we practice making small, continuing improvements in all areas of our facilities, project management, worker safety, recordkeeping, and more.

Supplier Relationships:

As we work more and more frequently with our trusted materials suppliers, those partnerships grow and become stronger like any other relationship. Lean manufacturing supports constant contact with the people who help us get the exact tools, solutions, and materials we need to build.

Increased Precision:

Thanks to strong relationships with our materials suppliers and our dedication to kaizen/continuous improvements, we are able to increase the quality of our products daily. Every day we find ways to improve precision, not only in our parts, components, and assemblies, but also in our safety practices, operational procedures, and customer service.

As a design & build company, we rely on our lean manufacturing and just-in-time delivery standards to provide the best quality possible to our clients. To learn more, contact MultiSource Manufacturing LLC at (952) 456-5500. You can also request more information, or request a quote to get started with us today.