Manufacturing Today Issue - 217 October 2023 | Page 136

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warehouses will be remodeled to create a new bulk manufacturing suite capable of exceeding the requirements of the business for many years to come .”
To support the proposed increased demand in both hot and cold bulk manufacture required significant investment in the engineering services that support vessel operations . Furthermore , there are several key utilities required for any manufacturing plant of this nature - steam , natural gas , mains water , reverse osmosis ( RO ) water , clean in place water ( CIP ) and chilled water .
Herrco has added several new systems with added redundancies to ensure that the plant continues to run in the event of unplanned stoppages . This includes pumps , filters , chillers , and steam boilers .
Michael shares : “ For example , two new 1,360kg / hr steam boilers replace the original 960kg / hr unit . The boilers can run independently or in duty-assist modes . The steam output can be controlled to provide 183 percent increase in steam production to include availability for future growth . A new dedicated natural gas supply was installed to feed the new boiler system as the existing was not capable to provide the volume required .”
▲ John Wiley , Managing Director
Mains water is not used uniformly onsite and needs to be buffered to ensure supply always meets demand . “ We now hold 30,000 liters of mains water on site , compared to 15,000 liters previously . Furthermore , we ’ ve increased the volume of RO water , which is used throughout the manufacturing area , including in the bulks we manufacture . This RO is generated by a new duplex RO skid capable of delivering up to 5m3 / hr in parallel operation . The previous output was 2.2m3 / hr , an increase in potential output of 127 percent .”
Herrco has also installed a new CIP system . The system is constructed with two individual CIP sets capable of heating , storing , and supplying RO water at 85 ° C for manufacturing vessel cleaning . Each CIP tank can hold 5,000 liters of water with independent or dutyassist operating modes . This new system provides an increase in capacity and prevents interruption in supply whilst heating .
With the initial phase of the Mega Factory fully commissioned in 2023 , the
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