“Bringing these two leading equipment suppliers together provides outstanding value to food processors,” says Jack Lee, Duravant Group president – food sorting and handling solutions. “Customers can now access the broadest portfolio of material handling and sorting solutions in the food processing industry via a single point-of-contact. By integrating the Key and PPM sales and service teams, we can offer industry-leading process expertise and technical knowledge to our customers, including the ability to supply larger and more capable integrated solutions. Consolidating our field service and aftermarket operations means customers receive faster, more comprehensive support to maximize uptime and improve line performance.”

Both experts in food conveying and process solutions, Key and PPM design, engineer and manufacture systems for fresh and processed fruits and vegetables, potato products, snacks and cereals, nuts and dried fruit, confections, meats, poultry, seafood and other bulk food products. Their vibratory, horizontal-motion and belt conveyors perform tasks such as feeding, aligning, grading, dewatering, scalping and distributing throughout food processing lines. Additionally, Key offers optical sorting systems that maximize product quality and increase process yield while reducing labor requirements. PPM also supplies frying, coating/seasoning and cooling systems for a variety of processed food applications.