GEA teamed up with a leading East European home and personal care (HPC) manufacturer to design and install a fully automated, end-to-end manufacturing plant that can process a wide range of HPC products – including laundry detergent, softener and liquid soap - much more efficiently and cost-effectively than traditional semi-automatic setups.
How the BATCH FORMULA® PRO works?
Established in the 1990s as an importer and distributor of well-known European HPC brands, the company over time expanded into manufacturing a select portfolio of HPC products in house. Initially investing in equipment for manufacturing dry products, the firm then further broadened its HPC product portfolio to include baby care items, cosmetic wipes, hygiene products, and household paper goods.
With an eye on regional market trends and consumer demand that offered new growth opportunities, the company continued to invest in advanced production technologies that would allow it to manufacture a wider range of own-label HPC products.
The collaboration with GEA focused on designing and configuring a fully automated, multi-purpose end-to-end liquid processing line that can manufacture multiple product types, allowing the company to enter local HPC markets that were previously dominated by imports. Designed to help reduce complexity when switching products, the GEA plant is built to the same hygiene and operator safety standards required of food-grade industries such as dairy and brewing.
Compared with traditional semi-automated manufacturing solutions that require dedicated lines for each product, the automated GEA system offers enviable flexibility.
Falko Fließbach
Director GEA Competence Center Home& Personal Care
The system supports small batch manufacturing so the company can stay agile, meet changing customer demands and create new growth opportunities. Automation reduces manual tasks and can reduce down time when switching products. The GEA plant has a capacity of 15,000 tons per year, dependent on the product, even when operating only on day shifts.
The equipment supplied for the plant includes raw material handling and storage systems, dosing and mixing technology GEA BATCH FORMULA® PRO High Shear Mixer, final product storage, and a clean-in-place (CIP) system.
The project was designed around proven GEA technologies, but no two projects are the same, and there were some challenges. The plant may handle highly viscous products that require transport through heat-traced pipelines and storage in temperature-controlled tanks. Some substances passing through the plant may be sensitizing and cause skin irritation.
Working with the company GEA designed and built the plant to adhere to the most stringent regulatory compliance and safety standards and ensure safe equipment operation and handling of chemicals, protection against fire and explosion hazards, and regulatory compliance. The design also minimized deadlegs in the pipework, supporting more effective, efficient cleaning and reducing contamination risk at changeover. GEA further integrated technology solutions (pigging systems) that recover residual product during changeovers to further reduce waste and cleaning chemicals.
Some of the existing processes generated high product losses during transfers and changeovers, generating unnecessary waste and demanded additional CIP requirements. By applying product recovery technology, improved pipework design and an integrated CIP strategy, we are able to reduce product losses, simplify cleaning and improve overall process efficiency.
Darryn Buller
HPC Technical Manager
灵活的 GEA 设备助力改进 HPC 生产
波斯尼亚和黑塞哥维那的 Violeta 公司采用了 GEA 灵活的生产设备，用于生产各种家庭和个人护理品。相比传统技术而言，采用这套设备的生产成本更低，但效率更高。
GEA 与 Violeta 近期合作推出了一套全自动、多功能的液体加工设备，用于生产家庭与个人护理品 (HPC)。一直以来，本国 HPC 市场都被国外进口产品占据，而这套卫生标准高、灵活性强且操作安全的新设备将使 Violeta 打入本国 HPC 市场，满足顾客需求并创造新的机会。该设备以白班运行的理论年产能为 15,000 吨。
自 1990 年开始经营以来，Violeta 一直将自己定位为欧洲品牌（如，Ferrero、Barilla 等）的独家进口经销商。2000 年，该公司投资引入设备生产卫生纸和厨房用纸。从那时起，Violeta 开始将业务拓展至各类 HPC 产品，如，婴儿纸尿裤、湿巾、化妆棉、卫生巾、手帕纸、餐巾等。然而，为了进一步拓展市场并使其产品组合跟上区域市场发展趋势，Violeta 决定投资发展本公司的生产技术并生产自有品牌的 HPC 产品。
新设备的设计与建造采用与乳制品业、酿酒业等行业的食品级应用一样的卫生标准；产品均在封闭的系统内生产，且以相对小批量进行生产，以适应产品的快速更替。与每种产品都需配备专门生产线的传统方法相比，该系统更灵活，同时也能确保更高的操作员安全性。
GEA 供应的设备包括原材料处理与储存系统、配比与混合系统——包括 GEA 的 BATCH FORMULA™ 技术——成品储存与原位清洗(CIP)方案。该设备根据国际卫生与生产标准运行，可生产出超高品质并满足严格可持续性标准的产品。“我们可以对设备进行清洗、保证设备安全性、可随时更换产品、确保有毒原材料都得到安全处理并保障客户的使用安全，”GEA 生物技术与 HPC 高级应用工程师，Søren Sandahl Skov 介绍道。
虽然设备的建造采用了可靠的技术，但项目并非没有遇到挑战：“许多产品都极具粘性，”Søren 指出“因此必须用伴热管道输送并用有温度控制的罐子储存。还有些产品具有很高的活性，可能导致皮肤过敏，所以我们必须采取高等级的安全措施来保护员工。”GEA 还采用了清管系统以便在产品更替时回收产品并在清洗过程中最大程度减少化学品的使用；避免管道中存在死角从而使清洗更容易且更有效。
“合作过程中，GEA 的团队表现得非常专业；他们随时愿为你解答疑惑、提供支持。选择 GEA 作为我们的供应商，我们感到非常满意，”Violeta 常务董事，Ante Milos 表示。这套设备于 2014 年秋季全面投入使用，Violeta 目前正考虑启动全周全天候运行模式或添加更多混料机，以满足不断增长的需求。
卫生标准
