INNOVATION IN MOTION: SPIRAL IMMERSION SYSTEM (SIS)™

The SIS with the Intralox self-stacking belt was installed at Johnsonville LLC's plant in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, the US, in January 2022, for the production of fully cooked prepackaged sausage.

FPS Spiral Immersion System™, a liquid-based food processing system, helped Johnsonville to substantially improve its sausage cooking and chilling. This cutting-edge technology enabled consistent and continuous processing with organized product discharge, zero product damage, and greatly reduced labour costs.

Check out how FPS worked closely with our customer to achieve their sausage processing goals, realizing efficient production and high-quality product outcomes.

“Johnsonville is very good at looking at new and innovative equipment. We thought that the SIS™ was one of those up-and-coming technologies that we really wanted to get ahead of and really understand how it works. With the Spiral Immersion System™ we have been very happy with the outcome.”

— Matthew Behrs, Plant Engineer | Johnsonville

Challenges

In Johnsonville’s previous inline auger style water bath unit, prepackaged sausage products tended to clump together, reducing water circulation and causing inconsistent heat transfer across products. To address clumping, those systems used agitation of the product to maximize water circulation. This agitation, however, combined with the use of an auger screw to push the product through the water, caused damage to packages and labels, along with an increase in package leakage and yield loss. The product also did not pass through the auger system in a reliable first in, first out order. Instead, it was discharged from the auger in a jumbled fashion.

Solutions

Considering capital cost, delivery, service, and increased efficiency, the Spiral Immersion System™ provided the best value. Through automated, gentle handling and organized product discharge, package leakage has been eliminated, and almost no labour was required.