Muntons is a proud ISO accredited family firm established in 1921 which has grown to be an international name and specialist in the supply of healthy malts, malt extracts, flours and flakes and other malted ingredients to the food, baking and drinks industries, exporting about half of its production.
The company was the first maltster in the UK to gain the food safety management system and it is fair to say that most of us have digested Muntons products on a regular basis without being aware of it. This all calls for regular quality checks and close supervision of engineering processes, which has lead Muntons to recognise and adopt the notable features and benefits that Testo thermal camera technology can offer in the food processing industry.
The Stow market plant in Suffolk is at the hub of the two Muntons locations and produces 40,000t of malted ingredients. The maintenance and reliability engineering has been placed in the dedicated hands of AV Technology and its resident engineer Russ Parry.
"We were looking for a non-invasive inspection tool and thermal imaging absolutely fitted the bill," says Russ. "We looked at all of the major names and decided on Testo because it provided the best combination of functionability with affordabilty and it has proved to be a wise and very flexible choice."
He adds: "The Testo camera is used for easy and comfortable access in situations as variable as steam traps, electricity panels, bearings and motors. It allows us to carry out our own surveys quickly and accurately for fault diagnosis and root cause analysis. We have six people trained for the product and they have all found it logical and easy to use for on-going mechanical assessment of all of the machinery, with the super resolution being especially practical, and the process improvements are very evident. It really is a simple case of point and view with major impact on time, operating costs and safety, and it has certainly met our expectations in practice."
The Testo camera offers high thermal sensitivity as well as excellent definition and will capture and display even the smallest temperature difference. With a standard range of -20ºC to + 350º C, the Testo thermal imaging camera will quickly and reliably highlight anomalies in a wide variety of applications. The detector size is 160 x 120 pixels. An integrated digital camera is fitted, as is a voice recording facility. A wide angle telephoto lens can be fitted to see the different sizes and distances of objects. The weight of the camera is a comfortable 900g with a sturdy, smart carrying case provided and everything is backed by a two-year warranty.
For further details of Testo technology and advice please contact Testo.
