The Wire Belt Compact-Grid™ is a stainless steel wire mesh conveyor belt engineered for food production environments where conventional belting creates operational problems. Specifically, it addresses two requirements that frequently conflict in high-output food manufacturing: the need to convey smaller, more delicate products reliably at high speed, and the need to clean the belt thoroughly within realistic allergen changeover windows.
Where plastic modular belts accumulate product residue in hollow cavities and hinge points, and where heavier wire belts struggle with tight product transfers or belt drift at speed, the Compact-Grid™ offers a design that tackles both problems through its construction and drive system. Supplied in New Zealand and the Pacific by Advanced Packaging Systems, it is available in widths from 282mm to 3,662mm in 302 or 316 stainless steel.
Compact-Grid™ Conveyor Belt
Belt Construction and Specifications
The Compact-Grid™ uses a low-mass wire construction with a 10mm pitch and 1.6mm wire diameter, achieving 70% open area. Overall belt thickness is 5.2mm, weight is 4.9 kg/m², and maximum operating speed is 45.7 m/min. Minimum transfer diameter is 16mm, enabling precision product transfers that are not achievable with heavier or less flexible belt constructions.
A defining feature is Wire Belt’s patented joining system. Competitive wire mesh belts typically use welded construction, where the joining points are stress concentrations that can lead to premature fatigue failure. The Compact-Grid™ joining system replaces welds with a mechanical connection that is both stronger and faster to disassemble. Belt removal, cleaning, and reinstallation can be completed significantly faster than with welded alternatives, which is directly relevant to allergen changeover management.
Standard material is 1.4310 (302) stainless steel; 316 stainless is available for higher-corrosion or more aggressive washdown environments. Belt widths are available to specification across the full 282mm to 3,662mm range.
Positive Drive and Belt Tracking
The Compact-Grid™ uses a no-slip positive drive system via matched sprockets, ensuring accurate belt tracking across the full operating width. Belt drift and mis-tracking are common failure modes on high-speed food lines, causing product misalignment, conveyor stoppages, and accelerated belt and sprocket wear. The positive drive design eliminates these failure modes, maintaining consistent belt position regardless of load, speed, or product distribution across the belt width.
Wire Belt supplies matched Compact-Grid™ sprockets in three configurations: Slim-Profile sprockets (lightweight, energy-efficient, easy to clean), 3-Piece Stacking Sprockets (with integrated tracking guides for critical alignment applications), and 1-Piece Sanitary Drive Sprockets (manufactured to the highest hygienic standards for wash-down environments). Standard sprocket material is 303 stainless steel, with 316 stainless and POM available for specific applications.
Hygiene and Allergen Control
The 70% open area design supports drainage and airflow in coating, heating, and cooling operations, and simplifies cleaning. Unlike plastic modular belts, the wire mesh construction has no hollow cavities, hinged sections, or undercut profiles where food particles, oils, or allergen residue can accumulate and resist standard washdown procedures.
The fast-change joining system means the belt can be fully disassembled, cleaned to the belt surface profile, and reassembled within a significantly shorter window than equivalent belts requiring tool-based disassembly or welded replacement sections. For manufacturers running multiple allergen-containing products on the same line, reduced changeover time has a direct operational value: shorter cleaning windows mean more production time, or a greater margin of safety within the same window.
USDA accepted, the Compact-Grid™ meets food contact requirements for direct product contact applications across its standard material specifications.
Wire Belt Eye Flex
Applications in Food Production
Snack Food and Confectionery
High-speed snack food lines handling crisps, coated nuts, confectionery pieces, crackers, and similar products benefit from the Compact-Grid™’s flat carrying surface and accurate positive drive tracking. The low belt mass reduces drive power requirements, and the 16mm minimum transfer diameter supports accurate product presentation at seasoning, coating, and packaging stations. Case study applications include batter applicator lines and snack food production lines where belt surge and tracking problems on heavier belts had created ongoing downtime.
Baking, Frying and Cooking
The Compact-Grid™ is rated for baking, frying, and cooking applications. Its open mesh design supports heat transfer and steam exhaust across the full belt surface. At 10mm pitch, the mesh spacing provides adequate support for most baked and fried products while maintaining the open area needed for even heat treatment.
Cooling and Freezing
The 70% open area facilitates airflow in tunnel cooling and spiral freezer applications. Rapid, uniform heat removal from both sides of the product is achievable with the Compact-Grid™’s open construction, making it suitable for post-bake cooling tunnels, blast freezing, and spiral freezer configurations.
Coating and Glazing
In glazing, enrobing, and coating applications, excess coating material drains through the mesh rather than pooling on the belt surface. This maintains product presentation quality and reduces coating material waste. The flat carrying surface ensures consistent product orientation through the coating zone.
Compact-Grid™ vs Flat-Flex®: Selecting the Right Belt
Wire Belt’s Flat-Flex® is designed for maximum open area (up to 86%) and is optimised for baking, washing, and freezing of larger or heavier products where open area and belt strength are the primary requirements.
The Compact-Grid™ is the better choice where smaller or more delicate products require closer mesh support to prevent them falling through, tipping, or jamming at transfer points; where high-speed operation requires the reliability of positive drive tracking; where the patented fast-change joining system is needed to meet allergen changeover schedules; or where the 16mm minimum transfer diameter enables tighter product transfers than the Flat-Flex® can achieve.
The two belts are often used within the same facility on different conveyor lines, selected based on the specific product and process requirements of each line.
Wire Belt Ladder Belt
Flights and Inclined Conveying
Wire Belt supplies optional flights for the Compact-Grid™ for inclined or declined conveying applications. Flights are designed with through-holes and side vents to maintain the hygienic drainage properties of the base belt on inclined sections.
APS Supply and Support
Advanced Packaging Systems are the exclusive New Zealand agents for Wire Belt, supplying the full Compact-Grid™ range including belts, matched sprockets, flights, and installation components. APS provides technical support for belt selection, conveyor integration, and ongoing supply to processing operations throughout New Zealand and the Pacific. Contact here.
