Building the clean room is an important step in attracting clients in the food and beverage sector because hygiene is of such great importance in the industry.
Food needs
“Having a clean room facility for undertaking the cleaning of pumps and their final build has been on the agenda for some time,” said AxFlow’s service base manager Tom Cooper. “It is a facility that several prospective customers had requested.”
Cooper said Ax-Flow built the clean room at its facilities in Huddersfield, UK, making every effort to address the requirements of its customers in the food industry.
The company said it enlisted the help of one of Europe’s leading chocolate and confectionery producers, whose process engineers overlooked the design and fitting of the clean room.
“Their hands-on support throughout the whole project was greatly appreciated and as a result, we have secured aspects of their pump maintenance work,” said Cooper.
The clean room is fully compliant with EHEDG requirements, and is fitted with a clean air supply with Grade I air filter for static pressure testing and a specialist lifting rig.
Regulations
In the food and beverage industries it is a basic requirement pumps must be compliant with EHEDG, FDA and 3A regulations.
When taken out of service for general maintenance, replacement of worn components and repair, the same regulations apply to the work undertaken and the testing prior to service re-entry.
The new facilities at AxFlow are therefore aimed at food processing companies that do not have a pump maintenance resource in house, or are unable to go back to the original equipment supplies.