Making sure new plant investments pay off

The APV Innovation Centre offers a unique array of services to help manufacturers make sure that new investments perform according to expectations.

Customer satisfaction and profitability depend on processing plants that can deliver consistently high quality and yield.

Cost-effective and repeatable processes are key to market success, not only in the dairy and food industries, but also in many other fields including cosmetics and ingredients.

Common to all manufacturers in these industries is the question of how to ensure they achieve the expected ROI of their plant investments.

Two scenarios.

"Our customers usually find themselves in one of two situations," says Claus Thorsen, Manager of the APV Innovation Centre in Denmark.

"One is the need to optimise an existing production process, for example via a plant upgrade or by adjusting ingredients or application parameters".

"The other is to develop an entirely new application process in connection with a new product and determine which production technologies are best suited." According to Claus Thorsen there are many examples of how APV Innovation Centre engineers have helped customers in industries ranging from dairy products and processed foods to cosmetics.

"Our ability to demonstrate indirect and direct UHT by producing the customer's own product on APV pilot plant enabled an international manufacturer of bottled water to determine the superiority of infusion technology for his particular needs," Claus Thorsen relates.

"A baby food manufacturer found the optimum solution in terms of runtime and product quality, while a global cosmetics company discovered a new level of consistency and flexibility by conducting trials at the Innovation Centre".

One of the most comprehensive facilities in the world Situated at the APV Technology and Engineering Centre in Silkeborg, Denmark, the APV Innovation Centre is one of most comprehensive of its kind in the world.

The Centre offers engineering and application expertise in the fields of heat treatment, membrane filtration, heat exchange, mixing, butter blending, soy milk, bag-in-box filling and advanced process monitoring and control systems.

The global reach of APV means that Innovation Centre technologists, process and production engineers can draw on extensive experience from all over the world in the industries they serve as well as the know-how and technology available throughout APV.

Extensive laboratory testing facilities together with training courses and seminars complete an array of services that are used on site and at their own premises by leading global manufacturers.

Confidential partnerships and business cases "Our contacts with suppliers all over the world mean that we can often find solutions when others have given up," Claus Thorsen continues.

"In addition to the wealth of experience and expertise available at the Innovation Centre, one of the main success factors is the very close and completely confidential partnership between our engineers and customer experts".

APV Innovation Centre experts also focus strongly on the issues of reliability, processing speed, uptime and waste management as well as raw materials and production costs.

Solutions are always supported by rigorous management execution systems, data and financial analysis, and maintenance planning in order to give customers the reassurance of a solid return on investment.

Your place or mine?.

Not everyone has the time to spend a week away from work in the heart of the forests and lakes of Jutland.

Customers can choose whether to involve their experts at the Innovation Centre, have the work done by APV engineers in Denmark, or invite them to their production facilities in collaboration with their experts.

"Many customers looking for additional quality or performance benefits in an existing application prefer to let us conduct a feasibility study at the Innovation Centre first".

"This method avoids testing and lost production time for the customer and results in a proposal to them with a documented effect that we are certain can be repeated on their own line," Claus Thorsen explains.

"Other customers, particularly those wishing to develop a new application, will prefer to have the flexibility of testing on a range of different equipment at the Innovation Centre".

"In both cases, the customer is certain of the quality, performance and ROI that can be expected from the solution".

Plant rentals.

Customers running trials on their own premises can choose to rent whatever new plant and equipment they need to complete their testing.

Rentals cover both pilot and full production-scale plant equipment and can be agreed with a purchase option after successfully completed trials.

Standard practice.

According to Claus Thorsen the scope of the APV Innovation Centre is second to none in the world".

"I know of few other suppliers who can offer the same facilities, the same expertise and the same wide range of test equipment as we can".

"We are proud to have helped countless customers of all sizes and in many different industries to test the viability of their investment plans in real-life situations before taking the plunge".

"And for almost all of them, testing before investing has become standard practice," Claus Thorsen concludes.

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