Potato processing line updated and reinstalled

The peeling and processing line at at McCain’s potato specialities production plant at Wombourne, in the UK has been updated, and reinstalled in a more flexible and efficient layout. Moving food production equipment requires a host of organisational skills; as well as planning, purchasing, fabrication, pipework, wiring, installation and commissioning expertise. It’s not an everyday operation at large food processing sites, so, when faced with a project of some magnitude, it made sense for McCain to outsource the task to a specialist company; one with wide experience of planning the logistics and installation processes involved. What set the project apart from normal outsourcing operations was that skilled personnel from Deritend H&K form a permanent part of the maintenance team at the Wombourne plant. The majority of Deritend H&K’s operational personnel have been working on this site for several years; consequently, they know the people and the equipment inside-out. According to Joe Fellows, who heads-up the Deritend H&K team at McCain, and also oversees a similar team at Cadburys: “This is the key to ensuring work is completed smoothly and on time.” The Wombourne plant is responsible for manufacturing ranges of McCain’s well known frozen potato products, such as Smiles and Hash Browns. The objective of the production update at the plant was twofold: to increase the efficiency of the entire preparation operation, and, more importantly, to add flexibility, enabling faster changeovers and a leaner production flow. The potato preparation process starts with potatoes arriving either from local farms - direct from the field, when in season; or at other times of the year, from McCain’s own local warehouse. Different potato varieties are used for different products; the company is proud of the fact that the majority of potatoes it uses are grown from McCain’s own seed stock by local farmers; not only does this make sense, logistically, but it makes sense environmentally, too. The potatoes arrive at the new washing plant having been graded and most of the loose soil removed; some stones still remain, however. The first part of the process is a pre-wash, which feeds into the de-stoning section where the potatoes are floated around a slow moving water centrifuge that allows the stones to sink, removing them from the process. The potatoes are then scrubbed clean and fed into bunkers, which, in-turn, feed the processing line. The machinery that performs this entire operation was installed, wired and piped by Deritend H&K, under the close supervision of Project Manager, Jim Crooks, and his project team from the McCain Central Engineering department in Scarborough, and John Timmins, Wombourne Site Engineering Manager. Deritend H&K used a permanent on- site workshop for wiring and structural fabrication, such as walkways and pipework in anodised steel and stainless. The rest of the engineering work was completed at the specially- equipped Deritend H&K workshop in West Bromwich. The machine moving aspects of the job were also undertaken by the Deritend H&K team. The team took ultimate responsibility for completion of the work, on schedule, and for ensuring that it did not disrupt the ongoing operation of the plant during the three- month changeover period.
The cleaning process is a closed system, and is extremely efficient at minimising water usage. The overall control of the system is based upon a factory PLC system, which was interfaced to the washing plant by Deritend H&K, who also sourced and installed all the valve assemblies, pumps and conveyors, and completed all the associated cabling and commissioning; effectively a turn-key operation.
The second stage of potato preparation involves the potatoes being pumped from the bunkers into the peeling and steaming room. All the equipment in this large area was moved by Deritend H&K, working closely with the McCain project team set-up to manage the suppliers and the final integration. Discussions were also held with the management team to keep the overall goals and objectives of the project at the forefront of the work being undertaken.
The machine movement carried out within the plant required the fabrication of walkways, and the moving and installation of pumps, augers, conveyors and pipework, in addition to all the cabling requirements. All of the work was completed to food- grade washdown specifications, something the team is very aware of since food production sites represent a significant part of Deritend H&K’s national work base. Two other aspects of the project that were essential to smooth and efficient running were safety and training. Deritend H&K took on the role of principle contractor with responsibility for the co-ordination of CDM safety regulation criteria, in conjunction with the McCain Group Safety Engineer. This required strict protocols to be applied to the physical conditions on the site, and the process of informing and updating associated contractors; these included civil engineers, construction companies and other involved parties. Regular safety briefings were carried out throughout the project at key intervals where plant layout and conditions were changed. Comments from senior staff stated that: “The safety briefings, training and induction were very well done”. The completeness and confidence with which the project was delivered serve to underline the effectiveness of keeping specialist suppliers involved at high-turnover production sites such as McCain Wombourne. It is safe to say that upon completion and final sign-off, in August of this year, it was ‘all smiles’ at McCain, thanks to Deritend H&K.