It is essential in many areas of industrial production to guarantee the purity of raw materials and end products. Expensive recalls, such as for contaminated food, can severely damage a company’s reputation and regularly show how important it is to identify foreign bodies as early as possible before they become a problem for production and packaging machines or even a risk to consumers.
Contamination frequently occurs in the form of chips and pieces of plastic or metal from the production equipment itself. In the event of problems, damaged parts or lost fasteners can enter into the production process.
To help prevent such instances, Ganter offers standard parts with materials that are easy to detect. The two available options are explained below.

Standard parts with visual detectability (VD)
Visually detectable standard parts are made of blue plastic. The blue color makes them especially visible to the human eye and, perhaps more importantly, to optical monitoring systems. Especially in milk and meat products, but also in most other areas of food production, blue colors are rarely encountered and therefore stand out well.
Complete standard parts or only pieces of them that mistakenly end up in the food production can then be easily and reliably detected. In addition, contaminants and residues of food on standard parts and operating elements are also easier to identify thanks to the color contrast.
All visually detectable plastic standard parts are made of FDA compliant plastic granulate as per FDA CFR.21 and EU 10/2011 and can therefore be used safely in contact with food and in pharmaceutical production.

Standard parts with metal detectability (MD)
Metal detectable standard parts are made of blue plastics that contain additives such as iron oxide.
As a result, they are detected by metal detectors as of a particle volume of 0.125 cm3, meaning that even hidden plastic chips can be detected. The blue color also improves visual detectability. It is always important to calibrate the metal detector since products at risk of contamination and the moisture they contain can influence the detection performance.
Also the metal detectable plastic standard parts are also made of FDA compliant plastic granulate as per FDA CFR.21 and EU 10/2011 and can therefore be used safely in contact with food and in pharmaceutical production.

Stainless Steel-Gripping trays GN 7332 can be easily and quickly installed from the front using countersunk screws or from the back with grub screws.

Stainless Steel-Gripping trays with housing seal (no. 2) prevent the penetration of any dirt or liquids into the housing interior.
Type A is supplied with four additional countersunk sealing screws, which feature a polyamide coating on the head to create a tight seal. Find out more in the internet at www.ganternorm.com

GN 7237 Stainless Steel-Multiple-joint hinges are installed to be space saving and vandalism-proof inside the housing, they allow a 180° opening angle of the flaps, hatches and doors. Elongated holes in the hinge mounting brackets and spacer plates make the hinge adjustable on three levels. Like the GN 2370 spacer plates, GN 2376 and GN 2372 threaded plates, are also available as mounting accessories. Find out more in the internet at www.ganternorm.com

Ganter develops sealed standard stainless steel elements that meet stringent hygiene requirements. Maximum hygiene is one of the absolutely basic prerequisites wherever food is produced. However, hygiene also plays a major role in other sectors — from medical technology and the pharmaceutical industry to manufacturers of dispersion paints. Today, it is all about producing products without preservative additives — and this is only possible in production environments which have high purity levels. Since even the tiniest weak points can cause entire production lines to be contaminated, Ganter decided to develop a special series of standard parts that meet the very high EHEDG requirements and the 3-A Sanitary Standard.

Ganter offers a variety of knobs, handles, clamping levers, leveling feet and screws under the label "Hygienic Design", all of which are optimized for minimal contamination and easy cleaning. Stainless steel — with either ground or polished surfaces — is the material used in all of these cases. The maximum surface roughness is kept below Ra 0.8 μm, so that dirt particles cannot adhere and can be reliably removed during cleaning. Find out more in the internet at www.ganternorm.com

Good corrosion resistance is essential when using steel parts in aggressive environments. Ganter therefore now offers even more standard parts in the higher quality Stainless Steel grade A4.

Increased resistance to aggressive conditions is an ever more critical feature in a wide range of industries. Corrosion-resistant A4 Stainless Steel is gaining in importance as a result since this material is known for resilience and no maintenance requirements, making it a reliable invest-ment.
The Ganter product range has always included many non-rusting standard parts. But not all Stainless Steels are the same. Roughly 120 types with different alloy compositions are listed in today’s material catalogues. While Ganter has historically concentrated to date on use of the A1 and A2 grades because these can be machined more economically, the market leader in standard parts now also offers an entire range of products in the more resistant A4 variant as well – especially for use in aggressive environments.
In principle, every part segment of the Ganter portfolio should now also offer a part in A4 quality. This includes handwheels, fixed handles, eye bolts and eye nuts, which are produced in full or partial compliance with DIN. Various hinges, U-handles and ledge handles (which can also be fastened by welding), star and tristar knobs and clamping nuts with single or double levers can also be found in the A4 range.
Finally, the extensive portfolio is rounded out by machine elements such as indexing plungers or cam action indexing plungers and split or semi-split shaft collars.
The austenitic A4 steel receives its high resistance to chlorides and acids primarily from the chromium, nickel and molybdenum constituents. This predestines the A4 standard parts from Ganter for use on ships and other offshore sites, in swimming pools with chlorinated or mineral-rich waters and anywhere else that requires such thorough cleaning. Clearly a big market, which is why Ganter will continue to expand its range of A4 standard parts in the future.