Salsa Blending & Filling System

Customer: Food Customer

Project Type: Engineer, Procure, Construct (EPC) project to design and install a new salsa blending and filling operation in an existing plant.

Project Scope: Matrix Technologies provided turnkey design, fabrication, and installation of a new salsa blending and filling system at a Texas facility.

This complex project involved a number of engineering and process design challenges. Matrix designed a new freezer/cooler area for raw ingredient storage along with additional raw ingredient warehouse space. Matrix also retrofitted two existing building areas for use in processing, handling, and blending raw ingredients into the final product.

Process design requirements included adding five liquid streams and two vegetable streams into 1,000-gallon ribbon blenders and the installation of two tomato paste standardization systems and a diced tomato handling system. An existing pre-blend system also was incorporated into the new system operation. Matrix designed all sanitary process equipment and piping along with a fully automatic CIP system for the process area.

A new product sterilization unit was installed for pasteurization of the blended product before the hot fill system. Matrix also integrated a new, modular Krones Labeler into the existing packaging system to handle new product labeling requirements.

The control system utilized Rockwell Automation ControlLogix PLCs along with Wonderware InTouch HMIs. Matrix integrated existing plant floor PLCs and panel views into the new control system to provide operators with full insight into the system’s operational state.

Engineering Challenges: This project was executed in a very tight schedule to meet a marketing release for the newly formulated product.