CCS-Inc. of Christiansburg, VA has had success with its Envirosealed thin client and panel PC enclosures in food manufacturing applications. The units are designed with smooth surfaces, no bezel and an optional tilting mount to prevent water from pooling during washdowns. “We also have an option to provide tool-less locks, so keys aren’t required, which enhances safety on the food line,” says CCS Marketing Manager Jennie Young.

Thin clients are essentially stripped-down versions of traditional computers usually with no moving parts or long-term storage drives. They are called “clients” because they rely on a central server or panel PC to handle data processing, and transfer keystrokes and mouse events via network connections. “Because they have minimal hardware and store little information locally, they are inherently secure devices,” adds Young. “A thin client has limited capability on its own, but when networked with a server, it becomes very powerful.”

Chicago-based Sara Lee Food & Beverage has a food production facility in Florence, AL that produces ready-to-eat breakfast sandwiches and sausage products it sells to retail and foodservice outlets. About 18 months ago, the facility purchased 16 HP thin clients in CCS Envirosealed enclosures. “Our previous enclosures were wearing out, and we needed a solution that would provide our thin clients and barcode printers with a robust enclosure and keyboard tray that could withstand wide temperature and humidity swings during high-pressure steam washdowns,” says Sara Lee Process Technology Specialist Daniel Ingram. “We chose one of CCS’s standard enclosures and modified it to suit our specific requirements. It worked out so well that we now have a program in place to install similar units in all our other plants across the country.”

[Source:  Food Engineering, April 2011]