ENG1002: Technical Analysis of Snack Bar Production Line Parameters

This report presents a technical analysis of a snack bar production line, focusing on the optimization of key design parameters. The analysis begins with an introduction to the production process, which includes blending, bar forming, drying, cooling, and packing stages. The report addresses the client's requirements, including increasing production rates, reducing costs, and producing two different bar sizes. A detailed technical analysis is then provided, focusing on the dimensions of the bar, wrapper, and box. Equations are formulated to calculate the relationship between the conveyor width, bar width, number of bars, and spacing. Furthermore, the surface area and cost of the box and wrapper are calculated using relevant formulas. The report concludes by summarizing the relationships between the various design parameters and emphasizing the interdependencies of the bar, box, and wrapper sizes. The determination of box size is highlighted as particularly critical due to its dependence on both bar and wrapper dimensions. The report is a comprehensive overview of the production line design, providing valuable insights for optimizing the process. The document is contributed by a student to be published on the website Desklib. Desklib is a platform which provides all the necessary AI based study tools for students.

Introduction
In recent the most famous and recognized snack business is ‘Snack Attack’ client which is an
emerging high quality nutritious. For the betterment in production line the new design
methodology analysis are required to introduce. The production line comprises 5 main stages
(Figure 1) and they are: blending, bar forming, drying, cooling and packing.
Figure 1: Proposed snacks bar production line
Blending refers to the process of mixing. Blending is a technique to produce required mixed
solution of solid or liquid particles. It is also known as liquidizer which is used in a different
field to mix, purée, or emulsify food and other substances. A stationary blender consists of
a blender jar with a rotating metal blade at the bottom, powered by an electric motor in the base.
Forming is a technique to provide the desired shape of the component to be produced. In this
case frame, die or cope is used to get the particular shape. In the drying section the manufactured
items are dried and make it wet free. The surface of the component becomes dried and then easy
to move for further operations. The next is cooling, here the items are cooled in order to have
tight surface. This is the last stage of machining. Then it is sent for wrapping where the
component get sealed by flat material. Finally packaging is done to export the manufacturing
product.
The existing process are able to produce 40 grams of one size bar. The intended production line
to be proposed will be able to produce the bars in two different sizes e.g., a mass of 40 g and 60
g.
To achieve this production line configuration the issues to be addressed:
 Increase production rate
 Reduction of cost per bar
 Reduction of production time
 Quality product need to be produced
 Two different bar sizes must be allowed
In any production line these are the main factors to be considered in order to make effective
production process. The production rate is defined as the ratio between the number of goods to
be produced and the time required producing them. Production rates can measure the efficiency

of production processes, whether those processes involve manufacturing. Reduction of cost per
bar can be achieved by improving the efficiency of the production process. Again it depends
upon the production time.
Technical Analysis
In this report the design parameters of bar, wrapper and box size in terms of equations are to be
optimized.
a. Bar size
The schematic of bar size is shown in Figure 2.
Where,
l- Length of the bar
w- Bar width and gap between bars
h- Thickness of the bar
s- The spacing to the edge of the conveyor
W- The conveyor width
N-The number of bars tha fit across the conveyor
The bars are formed onto the conveyor belt by the forming machine.
Figure: Bar forming and placement
The relation between the conveyor width (W), the bar width (w) number of bars (N) and
spacings (N) can be formulated by the following equation:
W =w ( 2 N−1 ) +2 s (1)
The bar width w and gap between the bars (same as bar width) are set by the operator on forming
machine. The width of the conveyor can be chosen from one of the 3 values (0.6 m, 0.9 m, 1.2
m). The space also can be set based on the bar width as it should not be less than that. By
knowing these mentioned parameters the no. of bars can be calculated from the equation (1).

b. Box size
The box is rectangular in shape and inside which the bar to be kept. The labelling for the
dimensions of the box are shown in Figure 3 and the box is defined by the parameters:
Where,
X – box length (mm)
Y – box width (mm)
Z – box height (mm)
AB – surface area of box (mm2)
CB – cost of the box ($)
Figure 3: Box with proper dimenaions
Surface area of the box can be calculated by the following equation:
Ab = 2(XY+XZ+YZ) (2)
The cost of the box is proportional to its surface area and its given by
Cb=10× Ab (3)
Where, Cb is the cost of box in $.
c. Wrapper Size
Each bar is to be wrapped and sealed around all 4 edges by the 2 flat pieces foil wrapper. The
labelling for the dimensions of the wrapper are shown in Figure 3 and the wrapper is defined by
the parameters:
Where,
a – wrapper length (mm)
b – wrapper width (mm)
AW – surface area of wrapper (mm2)

CW – cost of the wrapper ($)
Figure 4: Wrapper with proper dimensions
The length (a) and width of the wrapper is given by,
a= l+10 and b= w+10 (4)
Surface area of the wrapper can be found by the following equation
Aw= a×b (5)
Conclusion
The optimization of the design parameters of the bar, box size and wrapper size is established.
All the dimension are interconnected with each other and all depends on the bar size.
Equations:
W=w(2N-1)+2s (Equation 1)
Ab = 2(XY+XZ+YZ) (Equation 2)
a= l+10 and b= w+10 (Equation 3)
Aw= a×b (Equation 4)
Summary
The relations of all the parameters of bar, box size and wrapper have been formulated based on
the mathematical terms. It is found that all dimensions are interrelated with each other. The size
of the box size determinations are more critical as it depends on the both bar and wrapper size. In
case of bar it’s length and height are constant. While the bar width, spacing are variable and
conveyor width is selectable. Based on the variable and constant parameters the total number of
bar have been calculated (equation 1).