Measurement is an integral part of any manufacturing process, in order to ensure consistency in quality and quantity, especially in food and beverage businesses. If your food and beverage business has grown to the point that it can no longer catch up with the demands for your product, then you’ll need to move on from having a small kitchen or brewery, to having your own processing plant or factory to increase its output.
The Importance of Flow Measurement
In order to meet the demands, you’d need to install and use equipment, vats, pipes, and other food-grade machinery in order to allow for automated mass-production of your products. You’ll also need to increase the scale of your food or beverage’s recipe and optimize its production process. And an integral part of this process should be flow measurement in order to properly gauge and monitor the amount of fluids (liquids and gases) used in certain aspects of the operation. Flow measurement is used in food and beverage processes such as blending, distilling, brewing, pasteurizing, and even in bottling.
What Is Flow Measurement
Flow measurement, as the name suggests, quantified the bulk fluid movement. Flow measurement doesn’t only apply to liquids, but also to gases. Flow is generally measured through either weight or volumetric basis. Flow meters are the tools used for this type of measurement.
Safety and Hygiene
As with all food and beverage production, regardless of size and scope, hygiene is of utmost importance. As such, your flow meters and other flow measurement instruments should be food-grade to avoid contaminating any passing fluid. Alternatively, you can choose clamp-on equipment or any flow measurement tool which does not directly come in contact with the fluids or products, in order to do away with the need of using or installing food-grade equipment and reduce the need and frequency of maintenance and cleaning.
Choosing Flow Instruments for Certain Materials
It’s never one-size-fits-all when it comes to choosing the right instruments. When selecting the flow measurement instruments, you’ll need to consider certain factors such as corrosiveness of the material, temperature, density, acidity or pH level, and viscosity in order to ensure accurate measurements, as well as prevent any damage to your equipment and compromising your entire production process. However, if you’re not tech-savvy, you can always hire a professional such as a food technologist or engineer to assist you in drawing up the equipment you need for your production plant, including the proper flow instruments.
The Need for Water Management
In food production, water is perhaps one of the most common fluids being used in the making of your products. As such, water management is important in order to ensure proper use of water, minimizing wastage, and ensuring that the right amount is used for each step of the process. Subsequently, flow measurement goes hand in hand with water management in your factory or production plant.
Conclusion
Having industrial water flow meters, and other fluid flow meters accurately measure and gauge the amount of liquid or gas materials is essential in food and beverage processing, particularly with ratio of ingredients in order to have uniform quality and consistency of the product. So if you’re ready to upscale your food and beverage production business, it’s important to integrate flow measurement into your process flow and machinery.
