Some of the most important manufacturers of industrial freezing equipment for the food industry have taken steps to consolidate their business, as well as to introduce new equipment and technologies on the market, in order to expand their market penetration and increase the number of partners.
One such example is German company GEA Group, one of the largest system providers for the processing of food, as well as for an extensive spectrum of processing industries, which achieved consolidated revenues in excess of EUR 5.7 bn in 2012. Active as an international technology group, the company focuses on process technology and components for demanding production processes in a diversified range of end-user markets. GEA Group generates about 70 percent of its sales in long-term growth industries in food and energy sectors and employs around 24,750 staff worldwide. Also, GEA Group is listed on the German MDAX stock index and has decided to consolidate and re-organize some of its subsidiaries in Eastern Europe.
As a consequence, the company formerly known as GEA GRASSO SRL has done business under the new name of GEA Refrigeration Romania SRL and has moved its official place of corporate business. The company now serves the food-processing industry in Romania, Hungary, and Bulgaria from offices in Cluj-Napoca (Romania), and from an additional location in Bucharest. With this new sales structure, GEA systematically continues its strategy of simplifying structures and focusing its corporate profile. Plans have likewise been made to enter the energy and chemical markets in Romania, Hungary, and Bulgaria. Dr. Hugo Blaum, Segment President of GEA Refrigeration Technologies: “As a result of increasing integration of Sales and Service, harmonization of design and calculation tools, and central staff training for all GEA products for cooling and refrigeration technology in the Eastern European market, we can offer our contractual partners and ultimate customers optimal solutions for their individual cases of application – both for cooling as well as for freezing.”
A similar strategic action of the same company has been implemented in Poland, where the company earlier known as GEA Grasso Sp. z o.o. has done business under the new name of GEA Refrigeration Poland Sp. z o.o, since May this year. The corporate name and the sales structure of the Competence Center located in Gdynia, Poland have therefore been harmonized with the international organization of GEA Group. Earlier, the company’s business was primarily concentrated on sales of industrial solutions for food industry and service to end customers. Since the beginning of 2013, the company also actively offers components for refrigeration contractors: e.g. compressors, chillers, heat pumps, ice machines, valves and more. Sales Manager Piotr Kaszubowski is responsible for sales of refrigeration components & skids and accessories. Additionaly the company is continuing its activity in chemical market that started in 2012.
The success of IQF freezers
Many international meat product specialists manufacture today with the new generation of IQF fluidised bed systems made by Heinen Freezing. The freezelite.® for small and medium throughput and the blizzard. for medium and high capacities are designed for cooling and freezing of bulk products such as diced meat, poultry pieces, seafood, i.e. all lumpy products that may be taken off from the frozen plastic bag in small amounts from the entire package where the user does not need the complete content of the bag. The small dimensions assure the application of the freezelite.®, where only limited space is available, the equipment being completely pre-mounted on a frame, thus guaranteeing maximum flexibility in a growing or changing production environment.
With its capacity range up to 1,500 kg/h (type f15) resp. up to 2,500 kg/h (type f25), a belt width of 880 mm (options: metal or plastic modular belt), an integrated belt cleaning system, its stainless steel design as well as its integrated cleaning system, the freezelite already offers a very extensive standard configuration. Additionally there are numerous options for this system available: an externally extended infeed, product dewatering, a belt agitator etc. According to the manufacturer, while developing the freezelite series, the engineers of Heinen Freezing attached great importance to a wide field of applications for the fluidized bed system. The design of the freezelite already considers the latest development in terms of service life extension (production time without defrost). A modified air flow through the air cooler optimizes the distribution of frost and ice on the fin surface, Thus the process time available before pressure loss due to snow building and defrost of the air cooler, can be increased considerably.
Lastly, since the company is aware of the clients’ requirement for efficiency, they also offer the condiMOT system, which monitors all drives as well as the ventilator motors in order to ensure its proper functioning. The signals are forwarded to the control unit via an evaluation unit, so that the actual condition of the monitored components is shown on the control unit’s display. The belt agitators and air evaluation are also continuously monitored in order to detect operating errors or damage prior to a fault, which will cause plant downtime or impaired plant operation. This way the user is given essential instructions in time via the display so that he can request for specific maintenance work to be carried out and the user is notified of the need to intervene as early as possible, which means that he will have sufficient time for planning and implementing the necessary measures.