Finding Solutions in Portugal
September 11, 2014
One of the best parts of my job is getting to travel to interesting places to meet with and assist customers. Recently, I had the opportunity to travel…
Category: Engineering & Maintenance
Learn About the Latest Trends & Technologies
Cooling Conveyors: A Simple Solution
August 21, 2014
As the R&D Extrusion specialist, I like to cover subjects that are relevant to current extrusion operations. Oftentimes, we will be in contact with a number of customers…
Durable Equipment and Parts Give You a Better Product and Better Return on Investment
July 17, 2014
During my frequent visits to food and feed plants in Latin America, I often encounter under-performing extruders due to the replacement of factory parts with locally-made, copied parts.…
What’s The Problem?
July 3, 2014
Anyone who has spent any time working on a production line knows the scenario: The line is running along just fine when all of a sudden, a problem arises.…
Extrusion and Proper Cleaning
June 19, 2014
Extrusion is becoming an exciting business, especially in the part of the world where I come from – Nigeria. From my experiences in Nigeria, I have learned that…
Calculating Conveying Capacities
May 20, 2014
When designing a plant, it is important to consider the flow of material during a given time. This is the “mass flow rate” and is important when specifying…
Service Departments and Scheduled Maintenance
April 8, 2014
Service after the sale is a value added product. Often times we look at a service business as someone trying to get extra money out of our purchase.…
Using the Oil Press for Different Types of Oil Seed
March 25, 2014
There has been a lot of interest lately from existing oil press owners, concerning what is required to process different types of oil seed through their systems. The…
Cold Weather Operation
February 25, 2014
If you are like us in the Midwest, it has been extremely cold this year. Cold weather can make operating your equipment like an extruder or oil press…
Oil Press – Cage Maintenance
November 19, 2013
Maintenance of the oil press cage is important in keeping oil residuals down, proteins up, foots down, and overall product quality high. The cage is a fairly simple…
TOM D WIP – Lean Manufacturing’s Enemy
September 24, 2013
Lean manufacturing is a concept that has been around for a while and has become the go-to buzzword over the last several years. Every company wants to create…
Benefits of the Insta-Pro Service Plus Program
August 27, 2013
As a former ExPress® plant operator/manager, I understand all too well the problems of maintenance, wear problems, as well as, the benefits of proper maintenance and wear part…
Non-Insta Pro Parts
July 9, 2013
I want to share a little experience I had recently with some knock off spare parts. Last month we got in an old Model 2500 extruder on a…
How Can I Tell When My Parts are Worn Out?
June 4, 2013
One of the most asked questions by customers when they encounter problems with their extruders deals with a part’s life. Simple inspection of both the inlet chamber and…
How to Avoid Getting the Wrong Spare Parts
May 7, 2013
During the time around the holidays, I spent a few days helping out in the parts department for the end of the year rush. Many customers have a…
Hammer Mill or Roller Mill for Soy Extrusion?
April 9, 2013
In the blog “Particle Size Reduction,” we touched based on the various types of equipment used to pre-grind materials before extrusion. The majority of projects we work on…
Moisture Tester
April 2, 2013
In my opinion, anybody who owns an extruder needs a good moisture tester. No matter what kind of product is being extruded, the moisture tester is a critical…
The Extruder Shop
February 12, 2013
This post will cover some of the additional tools and equipment that are often overlooked when extrusion plants go into operation. This is especially important for the producer that…