Habasit – belting solutions made in Switzerland

An Industry Insight by Olaf Heide, Habasit

Habasit reinforces its lead in global belting technology by innovation combined with outstanding service. Customers do not get products “off the rack”, but tailor-made solutions and unparalleled consultancy and support.

“One way of extending the life of conveyor belts - and thereby reducing costs, while ensuring high standards of hygiene - is the use of new, innovative materials”
-Olaf Heide

Founded in 1946, Habasit has been setting the standards in the belting industry for more than half a century. Excellent knowledge of processes and needs have lead to almost innumerable innovations over the years. And constant improvement of the supply, service and support provided to customers make Habasit the world’s number one partner when it comes to belting.

Habasit keeps your process up and running
Efficiencies inherent in conveyor belt systems are widely recognized in manufacturing and general materials handling operations where product moves through processing steps leading to packaging and shipment.

But damage and loss can occur when delicate and/or small footprint products are transferred between conveyor systems. It occurs when such products become pinched, fall between or sag into the clearance space between adjoining belts or accumulate, bumping together, on dead plates. In the latter instance, there is also loss of controlled spacing, which can adversely impact sorting, counting and packaging.

The Solution has a name
Leading the world of belts for food processing, Habasit products stand every ground. Take the most recent innovation as an example: HabasitLINK ® M0870 Micropitch Flat Top 0.3” , the new unique plastic modular belt. Especially designed to ensure stability of delicate products, the Micropitch provides the world’s smallest pitch. With its small nosebar diameter, the processing of fresh or flash-frozen seafood, meat and poultry, small fruits and vegetables, confectioneries, unbaked and baked goods enters a whole new league. Amongst general conveying lines, the Micropitch belt is as well applicable in labeling machines and check weighers.

HabasitLINK ® Micropitch
Until recently, nose-to-nose clearance with plastic modular belts has been limited by belt design and the diameter of the nose bars. Typically, modular belts 0.5in. (12.7 mm) pitch require a nose bar diameter of ¾” (19mm), which means a minimal clearance between nose bars of 0.87in. (22mm). Now by combining a new belt design and a nose bar diameter of 0.28in. (7mm) spacing between belts can be reduced to 0.55in. (14mm). Because the pitch of this belt is reduced to 0.315in. (8mm) the potentially damaging polygon effect is likewise greatly reduced. This new design provides benefits to the manufacturing process by enabling smooth and tight transfer, improved tracking, and product stability while allowing smooth running and smallest gap.

Better performance with HabasitLINK ® belts
HabasitLINK ® plastic modular belts provide multiple advantages. In addition to increased productivity, less waste and higher level of operator safety, customers also benefit from the following advantages:

• Smooth surface – stable transfer:
  Best grip top modules on the market and the strongest connection between module and rubber, thanks to innovative mould solution (patented)
• Reliable product transfer, especially for incline / decline applications
  Small nosebars allow narrow gap transfers between differnet conveyor modules
• High temperature sustainable belts:
  Only suitable plastic modular belts for use in shrink tunnel applications, thereby avoiding black specks and heavy dead weight of wire mesh conveyors
• Strongest belts on the market: Suitability for pallet handling, high reliability and a high factor of safety
• Full range of Roller Top belts: Accumulation, transversal loading
• Fast and easy repair and thus downtime reduction

New high duty Silicone coated processing belts
Habasit recently launched a new product line of silicone coated belts, specially designed for high duty and delicate food applications. The silicone coating fulfils highest needs concerning abrasion resistance, release properties and assures an extended belt life and a very good cost efficiency. It features a high-quality food grade Silicone coating, applied in a vulcanisation process on proven one ply or two ply carcasses.

There are two different types of surface finish. A super adhesive one which facilitates an excellent product indexing and is suitable for steep incline and decline applications. The fine textile structured surface on the other hand has improved release properties and is visually less delicate – forgiving scratches and small wear damages.

Three different belt compositions enable the use in a wide area of applications within the food processing industry.The belts bear temperature conditions up to 180°C, allowing a wide area of application, e.g. food processing lines with sticky products like caramel, toffee and licorice.

The adhesive Silicone surface facilitates an excellent product indexing and the suitability for steep inclines and decline applications. The improved joint strength reduces premature belt failure and thus maintenance costs.

Setting the standards for hygiene and durability
One way of extending the life of conveyor belts – and thereby reducing costs, while ensuring high standards of hygiene – is the use of new, innovative materials. Habasit’s Cleanline ® conveyor belts are coated with a modified Polyolefin. A key feature of this material is its outstanding release properties. This ensures that fewer product residues remain on the belt, and so reduces waste and cleaning times. An added benefit is that Cleanline ® products are extremely resistant to aggressive detergents.

Habasit HyGUARD ® (EU) and HabaGUARD ® (USA/Canada/Asia) conveyor belts contain an antimicrobial additive, providing an additional hurdle to the development of microorganisms and biofilms. This is a safety bonus for any production area subject to extremely demanding hygiene standards. However it is important to be aware that these products don’t replace but complement established hygiene measures.

HyGUARD food conveyor belts are conform with FDA and applicable regulations in the European markets. HabaGUARD was developed for the North American and Asian markets, the additive is registered with the EPA ( Environmental Protection Agency, US) and in compliance with FDA and USDA regulations.

Food packaging encompasses a wide variety of diverse applications for conveyor and processing belts. Habasit has the right answer for just about every need. Just another example is of our specialty products is the Grabber ® form-fill and seal belts – available in various versions.

The Habasit Group – Your partner with the broadest range of belting products
Habasit is present with 34 affiliated companies, as well as numerous service centres around the globe, thus allowing the company proximity to its customers. 3,500 employees provide customers with expert advice, products of highest quality and the entire range of tailor-made solutions.