How to Clean Drive Systems Efficiently Without Sacrificing Profit

In food‑processing plants, the choice of drive system can significantly influence how easily equipment can be cleaned and sanitized. This article explores the cleaning challenges faced by the industry and offers guidance to help manufacturers select drive solutions that keep production running smoothly while meeting the highest food‑safety standards.

Food safety regulations aim to eliminate microbiological, chemical, and physical hazards. Microbiological risks are the most common, with more than 200 diseases linked to contaminated food. According to the CDC, the United States records roughly 76 million food‑borne illness cases annually, resulting in about 5,000 deaths.

Processors must meet federal standards and those set by provincial and local authorities, while also complying with workplace safety and environmental protection rules. The FDA’s Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) program, now extending beyond seafood, meat, poultry, fruit, and vegetable juice producers, requires manufacturers to develop robust good manufacturing practices that keep products free of pathogens.

Food‑manufacturing plants operate under relentless pressure to maintain cleanliness and hygiene. Failure to do so can trigger costly recalls, damage reputations, and erode profit margins.

Cleaning and sanitizing are essential but add no direct value to the product. Yet they consume valuable downtime. While the frequency and intensity of washdowns vary with the type of food produced, every minute spent cleaning reduces production capacity.

Manufacturers therefore look for durable, maintenance‑free equipment that is easy to clean. Power transmission drive systems—whether belt or roller chain—are no exception.

Productivity Costs of Cleaning and Sanitizing

The U.S. food and beverage sector contributes $500 billion to the national gross output each year. If cleaning and sanitizing account for only 1 % of that output, the annual cost amounts to $5 billion.

For illustration, a major international meat processor that operates around the clock measures downtime in tenth‑of‑second increments. A few minutes of cleaning can translate into thousands of dollars in lost revenue.

Typical plants need to clean and sanitize at the end of every line change, shift, and workday. This can add up to 15–20 hours of mandatory cleaning per week, with at least one washdown per shift being common practice.

In 2006, the USDA issued FSIS Notice 27‑06, granting manufacturers latitude to extend the interval between full cleanups. The notice states: “To decrease downtime, increase production efficiency and minimize expense, establishments can extend the period between cleanups. However, establishments must develop, implement and maintain written standard operating procedures (SOPs) for sanitation that effectively prevent direct contamination or adulteration of product.”

Thus, the easier the equipment is to clean, the more manufacturers can reduce downtime while staying compliant.

Drive System Washdown Considerations

Before comparing the cleanability of roller chain and belt drives, it helps to review key principles of sanitary equipment design. Industry bodies such as 3‑A Sanitary Standards Inc. provide guidelines that apply to the dairy and broader food sectors. These standards classify equipment surfaces into two categories:

• Food‑product contact surfaces – surfaces that directly contact food or can hold residue.
• Non‑product contact surfaces – parts that do not touch food but could indirectly contaminate it.

All food‑contact surfaces should be smooth, impervious, crack‑free, non‑porous, corrosion‑resistant, durable, maintenance‑free, non‑toxic, and easily cleanable. Non‑product surfaces must also meet these criteria to avoid indirect contamination.

Power transmission drives—whether belts or chains—typically fall into the non‑product contact category. Therefore, they should be constructed from suitable materials and fabricated to be readily cleanable, corrosion‑resistant, and low‑maintenance, in line with 3‑A and other industry standards.

Conclusion

In food processing, the quicker and more reliably you can clean and sanitize equipment, the less downtime you experience. When manufacturers measure downtime in fractions of a second and assign thousands of dollars to each minute, they will prioritize solutions that accelerate cleaning while maintaining food‑safety compliance.

This article has been adapted from a Gates Corporation white paper.

Find the original article on the MRO website.