Heinz achieves processing efficiency in a weekend

The installation, carried out by the dairy, food & beverage group at Carlisle Process Systems (CPS), enabled the factory to be shut down on Friday for refurbishment and be operational by Monday morning. As a result, the company lost minimal production time.

The two mixing vessels, each with a capacity of 1,000 litres, were built - in high grade Avesta 254SMO, corrosion resistant stainless steel - and tested by CPS engineers prior to installation.

They were taken to the Heinz Foodservice plant at Telford in Shropshire, UK, when it closed down on a Friday. By Monday the equipment had been safely installed and was ready to process sauces.

The production plant forms part of Heinz's single serve sachet condiment range.

"We took out the old vessels and fitted our new CPS ones, complete with agitators,"​ said CPS group's business development manager Paul Griffin. "And over the same weekend we undertook a compete upgrade of the plant's hot water system which feeds the hosing and wash station.​

"Basically there had been difficulties in getting enough hot water into the system, so we proposed a complete new redesigned system. And come Sunday night on that same weekend, that was ready to go too."​

Instead of a traditional coil installation, CPS used plate heat exchangers for the hot water, which greatly improved the flow.

"This was the first time for a while that we had worked directly with Heinz,"​ said Griffin. "We have undertaken jobs for them through third parties but on this occasion they came to us direct which has to be a feather in our cap."​

Heinz Foodservice engineering manager Graham Boyle was satisfied at the speed with which the installation took place. "They came in, measured up and installed everything according to our requirements,"​ he said.

"And the biggest bonus was that they did it in a weekend which meant we did not have to stop production during the week."​There is currently great pressure on manufacturers to achieve greater processing efficiency, with consumers demanding lower prices and retailers pushing their suppliers to streamline their operations. The newly equipped Telford factory should help Heinz to meet these requirements.

Carlisle Process Systems​, a division of US trading giant Carlisle Companies, is a global provider of hygienic liquid process systems with three internal operations - the cheese group, the dairy, food & beverage group and the manufacturing group.