GEA and CIAL create quality that families trust
CIAL Foods has been a manufacturer of cured meats in Chile for over 50 years. Its brands, trusted by the country’s 20 million people, include: La Preferida (The Preferred One), San Jorge and Winter.
Customer profile: CIAL Foods
CIAL Foods has two modern manufacturing plants, the largest of which is in Pudahuel, Santiago. The company prides itself on the quality of its products which are exported worldwide. Gonzalo Contreras is the assistant manager of the ham plant, responsible for the entire manufacturing process. He said that he has the best possible incentive to ensure the quality of everything that leaves the CIAL plant. “My whole family consumes these products,” he explained. “We work hard to continually improve because we are the end users ourselves.”
''The GEA equipment is compact and has enabled us to increase our productivity, it operates consistently without interruptions.”– Gonzalo Contreras, Assistant Manager at CIAL
– Gonzalo Contreras, Assistant Manager at CIAL
The challenge
But maintaining that high level of quality requires constant effort. In recent years CIAL has increased productivity and diversified its product range. Gonzalo said that many of the new products are increasingly complicated to make. “It’s a tremendous challenge.”
“As we work to capture markets for higher-end products, GEA technology is exactly what we need to make progress in the right direction.”– Gonzalo Contreras, Assistant Manager at CIAL
– Gonzalo Contreras, Assistant Manager at CIAL
The GEA solution
In 2023 the company extended its plant which involved moving 11 defrosting tumblers and adding a further three. During the relocation GEA supported the team at CIAL so that everything was relocated safely and efficiently. “We worked closely with GEA to make sure that production didn’t stop during the move,” said Gonzalo.
Defrosting is vital at the CIAL factory. It allows it to purchase frozen meat from anywhere in the world when the prices are right, extends shelf life, reduces exposure to conditions such as avian flu or swine flu, and manage stocks more efficiently.
GEA has also been able to help CIAL tenderize and marinate its products more efficiently with a GEA injection line and tenderizer. The new injector occupies the same footprint as the old one but has doubled capacity and allows CIAL to recover and recirculate the brine. “We did not have this recirculation on our previous machine.”
He’d also had some quality problems with the old tenderizer. “But we spoke to GEA and this new machine has resolved them.” CIAL also has ham slicers, thermoformers, and a burger production line within the plant, all from GEA. “The equipment is compact and has enabled us to increase our productivity. It operates consistently, without interruptions. It’s highly efficient, easy to operate with a user-friendly interface, easy to clean and is backed by strong technical support.”
And that quick-response technical support has been important too. “GEA operates in similar industries worldwide so those insights can help us here,” he explained. “Likewise, we share information that can help others. This means that even if we encounter process-related issues, GEA can provide expertise. This is something we might not achieve with smaller, growing companies.”
This relationship with GEA is something that Gonzalo values highly. “It has been a good collaboration. As we work to capture markets for higher-end products, such as premium hams, the GEA technology and support is precisely what we need to make progress in the right direction. We will be buying more.”
Industrial defrosting redefined
