2 Minutes Read
Food and beverage manufacturers understand cycles. Brands are currently expanding and optimizing existing plant facilities to increase product volume and drive product innovation. Corporate VPs envision plant upgrades as a way to hedge against any current economic uncertainty while modernizing plants to enable complete digital operations and AI strategies.
“Staying with the status quo in food plants is a recipe for food safety issues,” says Viking Kristjansson, VP of Sales Engineering at FoodSafe Drains. “Modern, food safe drainage systems are transforming facilities by enhancing safety, hygiene and efficiency.”
Hygienic Compliant Drainage
To enable updated food safety protocols, FoodSafe Drains now offers its RENEW services, which deliver turnkey solutions to food manufacturers to address legacy drainage issues.
FoodSafe Drains collaborates with food and beverage companies by specifying trusted contractors to lead, replace and install commercial drains and modern drainage solutions. Using the Alliance Partner Network, RENEW services recommends a trusted partner as the main contractor and project manager to oversee legacy plant upgrades or retrofit.
High Difficulty, High Stakes
The stakes with food safety are getting higher, as brands have to navigate the risk of negative brand reputation that can be caused by contamination and recalls. The price of ignoring food safety issues can be high, as food safety challenges become more complex for legacy plants and older drainage designs.
Here are three of the challenges plant managers face:
Over-Reliance on Trench Drains
Cleaning heavy trench drains is time-consuming, and these structures can erode over time due to heavy equipment and traffic, leading to structural defects and hazards. Moreover, trench drains have a higher risk of contamination and can trap bacteria more than slot drain systems.
Workforce Culture and Training
Replacing legacy drainage systems is an excellent step for brands, but instilling a food-safety-first culture goes a long way toward reducing food safety incidents. A modern sanitation installation aids plant managers in refocusing maintenance personnel on new tools and the ability to update cleaning, standard operating procedures.
Lack of Visibility
A lack of qualified sanitation designers led to the widespread use of area drains in legacy plants. Area drains make cleaning easier, but they create a lack of visibility into food safety for personnel. In addition, overuse of area drains can lead to floor degradation due to improper sloping.
Finding the right design is essential in today’s food plant, and installing a range of flooring drainage types is the right approach. Drainage types for food and beverage processing plants include area drains, grated drains, and slot drains. FoodSafe Drains created the modern hygienic slot drain, which delivers effortless cleaning and withstands heavy forklift traffic while providing a grate-free design. Systems also include integration into clean-in-place technology.
RENEW Enabled Contract Services
FoodSafe Drain’s RENEW Services offer a range of local contracting solutions, including: drain evaluation services, piping modifications, mechanical, plumbing, specialty, flooring scopes of work, new floor designs, drain recommendations and more. These turnkey solutions leverage the Alliance Partner Network, and its decades of experience in serving the food and beverage industry.
Our Alliance Partner Network includes EPC firms, architects and designers, general contractors, and experienced project managers with general and specialized disciplines. On RENEW enabled projects a project manager continuously works with plant managers during an upgrade, while the heavy lifting, like requests for information (RFI), front-end planning (FEP), and timeline management, is done by the lead contractor.
Contact Viking Kristiansson today to learn more about how RENEW Services work with our Alliance Partner Network to deliver modernized drainage solutions to satisfied customers across North America.
Want to do more research before you take the plunge? Our Hygienic drainage compliance whitepaper is a comprehensive source of information on:
- FSMA, CFR and GFSI standards and regulations
- Hygienic Drainage Design Principles
- Types of Drainage
- Drainage Selection Criteria
- Load Class Ratings, Risk Positions, Process Flows
- Installation Standards and Timelines
Download our whitepaper today and own the authoritative reference on hygienic compliant drainage for the food and beverage industry.
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