Edwards Engineering maximises space to increase capacity at Matthew Algie’s Glasgow roastery.
Edwards Engineering has reconfigured Matthew Algie’s Glasgow roastery as part of the integrated automation of its entire production process from green bean to blending, roasting, and finally packaged products ready for distribution.
Glasgow-based Matthew Algie is an award-winning coffee roaster supplying thousands of café and hospitality businesses throughout the UK and Ireland. With a rich history dating back to 1864, the business was looking to invest in two new modern packing lines for roasted coffee. This, however, required a significant reconfiguration of the layout due to confined space in its roastery.
Edwards Engineering worked closely with the Matthew Algie team and Caltech, an electrical, controls and instrumentation company, to formulate a phased programme of works to reconfigure the space while allowing for continued production and minimal downtime.
The project needed to rethink material flow and storage options to create adequate space and production capacity, as well as complete independence between the roasters and the packing lines.
After creating capacity in the production area to clear space for the next stage of the project, the new green bean intake area and sieving platform was relocated to the coffee blending function. The process also removed redundant blending hoppers and feed conveyors. This created the space that now houses two new packing lines and allowed Edwards to install new vacuum lines to deliver green beans to the two coffee roasters.
In an extremely constrained space, removing all the equipment feeding the former packing line was essential to make space for the new weigh hopper structures, which were constructed in sequence. In addition to this, high-quality chain and disc transport conveyors were installed to progressively allow roaster upgrades and changeovers without interrupting production.
The upgraded facility positions Matthew Algie for continued growth, with integrated automation of its entire process. The facility offers excellent control of batch weights, blends and yields for coffee, meeting the highest food standards requirements.
Paul Chadderton, Managing Director of Matthew Algie said “We are delighted with the completed upgrade to the Green and Roasted Bean Handling capability, delivered by Edwards. The project was delivered alongside our ongoing production and packaging requirements – Edwards’ foresight and flexibility in working with our other contractors was key to the success of the investment.”
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