Personal care plant decreases operating costs, increases productivity
A personal care product plant had several issues resulting from product changes. First, the existing cleaning process using spray balls was not passing the required sanitation tests. The crew had to fill the vessels with alcohol and agitate for hours to meet standards. Second, the cleaning process was taking so long that the production line could not meet the input requirements for the packaging line, which resulted in idled capacity. The plant team worked with Alfa Laval and selected the GJ 9 tank cleaning machine. A trial at the plant showed the units successfully cleaned the vessels more thoroughly and in significantly less time.
Unfortunately the existing installed CIP (clean-in-place) system would require significant renovation to provide the pressure and flow required to properly clean the vessels. Although the labor and materials savings could have justified the cost of renovating the CIP system, it was determined that a portable system could achieve the solution at a much lower installed cost. The Alfa Laval team worked with the plant team to design, build, and deliver a Mobile CIP system which had several pumps and filters controlled by a touch screen panel and programmable controller that met all the quality, operational, safety and budgetary requirements.
Results
The new cleaning method using water as the cleaning fluid enabled the plant to reduce the cleaning time from 8 hours down to 1 hour. An added benefit was the cost savings in alcohol exceeded $8,000 per week.
The tank-cleaning experts at Alfa Laval were able to work with the customer to develop the best-fit solution and deliver superior results. The plant drastically reduced both operating costs and cleaning time while increasing overall plant productivity with a minimal capital requirement and short implementation timeline.
