Best Practices for Documenting and Managing a Magnet Trap in a Dry Powder Operation
We have a newly implemented magnet trap for a dry powder operation over a conveyor belt as process control (metal detection is still a CCP) and looking to know what others have documented for a similar process. We are collecting and weighing the material everyday (8 hour shifts), cleaning the magnet, and also reviewing any material we are receiving off the magnet to see if there is something noticeable or actionable. Seems this is a simple process, however want to make sure I am capturing everything and documenting this correctly. First time utilizing a magnet in a process so any help would be greatly appreciated from all you wonderful folks.
Have you tested the pull strength for the magnet?
Look for unusual findings, signs of damage, note accumulation - light/heavy etc.
You may not have to clean it every single day depending on your findings.
Have you tested the pull strength for the magnet?
Yes all tested and vetted. The magnet was specifically designed for our operation, pull strength, and bed depth.
Look for unusual findings, signs of damage, note accumulation - light/heavy etc.
You may not have to clean it every single day depending on your findings.
Thanks the entire room gets cleaned at the end of the day/shift so daily is a must to review the material collected. Ill include signs of damage into the mix for the procedure.
We ran a lot of magnets as CP's/Process Controls in my old spice plant. They got pull tested once a year to verify they were still as strong as expected, and we checked them every 2 hours of processing while trained techs were performing the MD challenge for CCP. The two hour checks were convenient as they aligned with other checks being run on WIP lines, and we found magnets would be saturated around this mark so cleaning them off was necessary to make sure they keep doing their job.
One thing auditors always commented they liked on our magnet check forms was that we had three boxes at the top defining what we meant by light, medium, or heavy when it came to recording their findings. Light basically meant observing metal dust, but no metal shavings or "pieces" seen. Medium meant metal pieces were visible but under a certain size or that the magnet was over half covered in metal dust. Heavy was used to say the magnet was fully covered in metal dust or large pieces over a certain size were seen. The form was big enough that in addition to stating if the check was light/medium/heavy, comments could be left (they'd write in what they observed, or document when a nut or bolt or something odd was seen). Operators would bag the material from the magnet and label which check it pertained to. Whatever phrasing you use to specify how you record a magnet check is probably fine, I'm mainly just conveying that our auditors liked that we put the definitions right on the form as a daily reminder to the operators.
We ran a lot of magnets as CP's/Process Controls in my old spice plant. They got pull tested once a year to verify they were still as strong as expected, and we checked them every 2 hours of processing while trained techs were performing the MD challenge for CCP. The two hour checks were convenient as they aligned with other checks being run on WIP lines, and we found magnets would be saturated around this mark so cleaning them off was necessary to make sure they keep doing their job.
One thing auditors always commented they liked on our magnet check forms was that we had three boxes at the top defining what we meant by light, medium, or heavy when it came to recording their findings. Light basically meant observing metal dust, but no metal shavings or "pieces" seen. Medium meant metal pieces were visible but under a certain size or that the magnet was over half covered in metal dust. Heavy was used to say the magnet was fully covered in metal dust or large pieces over a certain size were seen. The form was big enough that in addition to stating if the check was light/medium/heavy, comments could be left (they'd write in what they observed, or document when a nut or bolt or something odd was seen). Operators would bag the material from the magnet and label which check it pertained to. Whatever phrasing you use to specify how you record a magnet check is probably fine, I'm mainly just conveying that our auditors liked that we put the definitions right on the form as a daily reminder to the operators.
Many thanks for sharing this is great information!