Cas d’application
Alpenhain: Hygienic pumps for all purposes
Alpenhain is a 4th generation, family-owned dairy company. The company name derives from the family name “Hain”, and the fact that the business operation started in the upper foothills of the Bavarian Alps in 1905. Alpenhain is a specialist in the production of Camembert and Brie specialities to the catering, wholesale, manufacturing and retail trade European-wide. State-of-the-art production plants, strict hygiene standards, and the most careful quality controls guarantee the highest quality for all Alpenhain products.
The Situation
Many different pump types, variants and pump brands in a dairy complicate maintenance and repairs a great deal. First of all, it is quite a challenge for the technicians at the diary to service a wide selection of different pump, but keeping a sufficient stock of replacement parts is almost impossible.
So in order to keep maintenance simple and the costs at a minimum, Alpenhain decided to go for one supplier only. And when the decision was made, Grundfos was the only supplier that met their specific pumping requirements in connection with processing and CIP (Clean In Place). In addition, the sanitary Grundfos pump solution designed
by Hilge was also the only one that matched Alpehhain’s quality expectations and high hygienic standards.
The Grundfos Solution
So far, Grundfos has supplied approx. 200 sanitary pumps for a wide range of applications:
Milk processing
The efficient production of milk under good hygienic conditions
is the key to successful dairying. The primary objective of processing milk is to extend shelf life and eliminate the risk of pathogens. Heat treatment or pasteurisation is the most common processing technique.
At Alpenhain dairy company, the treatment of milk includes distribution of large quantities of milk through many processes, including milk heating and skimming, cream heating and automated setup of fat and protein content for factory milk and consumable milk. For the making of cultures the milk is re-pumped from processing tanks into storage tanks using centrifugal pumps.
CIP
Grundfos supplied a large quantity of rotary lobe pumps for tank cleaning, heaters, and transport pipes in the operational area. The fully automated CIP cleaning system with pre-flushing of water, intermediate flushing, and disinfection has reduced cleaning time to an absolute minimum.
Furthermore, Grundfos recommended different locks for the production streams in the CIP objects according to production time. The result is very short production pauses in between cleaning processes.
The Outcome
The Grundfos hygienic pumps at Alpenhain dairy have saved the technical staff many sleepless nights. The reliable sanitary range is virtually maintenance free and when a pump eventually needs servicing, the technical staff is well equipped to do it themselves in the shortest possible time. Furthermore, the stock of replacement parts has been reduced to a minimum, making it possible to keep a
sufficient stock of vital spare parts if a situation requires it.
Alpenhain is also very pleased with the CIP system. Cleaning time has been reduced to a minimum, which means that pauses in the processing of milk has been reduced significantly. And of course, much less downtime and shorter pauses in the processing of milk result in a more efficient production and room for expansion.