cold store

Etlin International gives us an insight in to their recent maintenance project in Durban

cold store, Freezer store, General Interest, Maintenance, Mobile Racking, Pallets, Safety, Support /

Recent Etlin International maintenance project ROOM A – CAPACITY – 4000 PALLETS This freezer was commissioned July 1997 – 20 years ago with second hand racking. The maintenance cost on this freezer between 2015 – 2016 was R1.3m including spares from Barpro. Some of the work carried out during this shutdown were replacement of drive wheels, guide wheels, gear rings, pinions, installation of new p/e trip beam covers and one guide wheel unit. Repairs and service of electric control boxes were also carried out.                                   In 2016 we had to replace portions of the insulated roof due to water ingress (moisture/condensation build up due to the increased humidity in the KZN region), together with the roof work it was decided to re-do all the insulation work on all the piping. The time frame allocated for Room A was 14 days but this was achieved in 9 days. Room was brought down to ambient temperature in 3 days, maintenance commenced on the 23/01/2017 and was completed on the 01/02/2017. ROOM C – CAPACITY – 7000 PALLETS Room was commissioned December 2006 – 10 years ago. The maintenance cost of the freezer during 2016 was approximately R400 000.00 including spares from Barpro. Some of the work carried out were replacing damaged push buttons, replaced side members, drive wheels, removed and replaced bearing and gear rings for 10 drive wheels, motor pinions, guide wheel unit, gearbox motor, replaced p/e trip beam covers, serviced all motors & gearboxes, replaced trip beams. Repairs and service of electric control boxes were also carried out. Etlin International Storax mobile racking side member                                 The time frame allocated for Room C was 21 days but this was achieved in 15 days. Room was brought down to ambient temperature in 3 days & maintenance commenced on the 28/12/2016 and was completed on the 17/01/2017.   Planning: Planning was done in out of season with Etlin diverting containers to outside cold stores. We had limited amount of time due to the low volume during this period and had to ensure the work was executed accurately full on time. In our business we operate 24hrs a day 7 days a week hence there were no chances to be taken.                       A thorough deep clean was conducted on both freezers where we had to bring in specialised cleaning equipment and materials to ensure that we would meet the target date for completion, our cleaning team worked 24 hrs. All mobile racks and rails were washed, scrubbed and cleaned by hand. The floor was deep cleaned continuously using a specialised cleaning machine to get the dirt and grime out and have the floor looking new again. All paneling was cleaned and washed with other equipment.                                 A company decision was taken to perform this maintenance program every 5 years. Advantages of running such a huge maintenance program: Extending the life of the rooms by a minimum of 10 years. Productivity has increased due to a more efficient functionality. It has also ensured that Etlin is competitive in the market by guaranteeing its equipment is maintained regularly to prevent any downtime or unexpected breakdowns that could occur. Has assisted us in achieving high audit results in that site is maintained to above required standards. Accreditations under our belt are HACCP ; FSA ; Pick’n Pay ; YUM Has ensured safety of staff by maintaining equipment and racks this results in a safer work environment. Increased customer confidence is due to having their stock in a reliable cold store with formal preventative maintenance programs because we know time is money! The deep cleaning of the rooms has helped in getting rid of bacterial growth and also ensuring product is safe and meeting with legal requirements also our own Quality Management Program.   Thank You to Barpro S.A To carry out such a huge maintenance shutdown we needed to ensure that every box was ticked and double checked. Barpro had also assisted in many ways due to manufacturers for equipment had shutdown during this period we had to work closely with them to ensure the required spares were ordered well in advance and delivered full on time for the shutdown period. Barpro were also on site to assist with the more complex work and to provide assistance where necessary, a huge thank you to the team effort at Barpro and for going the extra mile for Etlin. Christopher Nulliah – Logistics Manager Etlin International, Durban                

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Vector Peninsula uses i-Smelt

Vector Peninsula uses i-Smelt

Blog, cold store, Complimentary Products, Freezer store, General Interest, Maintenance, Other Products, Safety, Tips, Uncategorized /

It’s a common phenomenon. All cold stores owners have encountered this issue. Ice melt sales increase during the Cape winter and the Highveld summer being their respective rainy seasons.  I-Smelt can be used successfully to remove ice from both freezer doorways and inside freezer rooms.   I-Smelt only deals with the symptom of a far bigger and more costly problem, namely moisture getting into freezer stores. While some moisture will end up as ice in the doorways, even more will build up on the evaporator fins making the refrigeration system inefficient and requiring multiple expensive defrosts. Here, fitting high speed doors and/or dehumidifiers can be a remarkably cost effective decision.     On the other hand Gregory Rodriques, pictured left, now uses I-Smelt to control ice in his evaporator drip trays. Gregory has been a foundation of the Cape’s refrigeration industry for almost 50 years.  He is the Maintenance Technician at Vector Peninsula and can be contacted on 021 9597000           Beat Ice build-up in cold stores by purchasing I-Smelt NOW: [gravityform id=”12″ title=”true” description=”true”]

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Refrigeration changed the world

A few interesting thoughts about how refrigeration has changed our world

Blog, cold store, Freezer store, General Interest, News, Uncategorized /

Refrigeration changed the world – Today we buy frozen meat and fish, not to mention vegetables and ice cream without a second thought. But the preservation of meat for later consumption hasn’t always been that easy. While Ice houses were used to preserve animal carcasses, salting in barrels or smoking was far more common, but even then not entirely safe. It was James Harrison, a newspaper editor from Geelong, Australia, who, finding his fingers got cold from cleaning type with ether, set investigations in motion that resulted in refrigeration as we know it today. At the end of the 19th Century, industrialising European cities were growing rapidly and colonies in South America, Australia and New Zealand had surplus livestock. If it could be slaughtered, frozen and transported safely across the equator, a huge business opportunity was there for the taking. After some mishaps, the commercial shipment of frozen carcases was proven with the voyage of the Dunedin in 1882. This sailing ship was equipped with the earliest coal powered refrigeration system and her cargo made a profit of 4700 GBP. A banquet was held at which the cooked frozen lamb was served. The brave souls that participated where watched for several days to see if they would survive the ordeal.   The Dunedin’s voyage was carefully watched by a Cape Town butcher David de Villiers Graaf. Nicknamed “Octopus Graaf” for his tendency to get his tentacles into all sorts of business, Graaf had a “brambles” or slaughtering area in Cape Town. As soon as the telegraph brought news of the Dunedin’s success, he travelled to Europe and the US for several years sourcing equipment and know-how with which to establish Imperial Cold Storage. While his first cold store in Dock Road burnt down in the 1920’s the offices of the second edition still exist. Indeed, Cape Town’s first power station was also built by Octopus Graaf.           The building still stands next to the Molteno reservoir and supplied power to his new cold store in Dock Road.                 But surely frozen meats don’t really taste so good when they are defrosted and eaten. They tend to be mushy and tasteless as large ice crystals destroy their structure. The ultimate example of this was the alleged frozen woolly mammoth served up at the Explorers Club’s 1951 Dinner at New York’s Roosevelt Hotel. It was advertised as being 250,000 years old, dug from the permafrost of Akutan Island in the Bering Sea.     Being tasteless, one diner preserved a chunk which has recently been subjected to DNA testing. It seems the mammoth might have been a turtle after all.   The slow freezing problem challenge was solved by one Clarence Birdseye. He started out as a taxidermist, but discovered in the 1920’s that fresh fish caught in the high Arctic froze quickly at Minus 43ºC and tasted far better than when slow frozen. I suspect the Eskimos had known this for centuries but when western civilisation got hold of it a whole world of TV dinners and other frozen delectables opened up.       Ironically Birdseye’s first company went bankrupt from lack of interest, but his second was sold for a fortune to Goldman Sachs and eventually became part of Unilever. During my youth, its mascot, Captain Birds Eye, became the most recognisable captain on the planet with the exception of Captain Cook. One doesn’t easily forget his famous fish fingers and bye line, “Only the best for the Captain’s table”.     James Cunningham

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