Central Vacuum System Ramps up Supply at Polish Meat Processing Facility

Pini Polonia, a leading meat-processing company, operates three production facilities in Kutno, Poland, that together process 1,000 pigs per hour. The newest facility was commissioned in April 2015 and manufactures cooked ham, salami and other sliced meat products. The new site is equipped with the latest technology, uses the best raw materials and applies stringent hygiene standards to produce quality meat specialities. Pini Polonia is part of the Pini Group, which operates production facilities in Italy and Hungary. The new site is located close to the existing abattoir and processing centers in Kutno and reached maximum production output at the end of 2015, when 130 tons of cooked ham and 60 tons of salami were produced in a two-shift system. During the startup phase, the facility employed 150 staff members. In January 2016, that number climbed to 850. As part of the company’s modern equipment lineup, Pini Polonia has used a centralized vacuum system for all packaging lines since production commenced.

The Pini Polonia management team was certain from the outset of project planning that a centralized vacuum system for the 24 packaging lines would be the best solution. In comparison to directly mounted vacuum pumps, centralized systems can offer higher levels of energy efficiency, hygiene and performance. When the new Pini Polonia plant started production, it was equipped with one of the most modern and efficient centralized vacuum systems in Europe. Because the individual packaging machines are not near each other, plant managers have implemented what they call partial decentralization: Vacuum boosters are mounted directly onto the packaging machines, and all rotary vane vacuum pumps are located in a separate room. This arrangement allows the rotary vane vacuum pumps to work at maximum efficiency, resulting in short evacuation times at every packaging machine. The rotary vane vacuum pumps maintain a permanent pre-vacuum of 50 millibar (mbar) throughout the pipework system. The vacuum boosters operate on demand and activate only when a vacuum of 5 mbar is required in the chamber or packaging. They evacuate rapidly from the pre-vacuum of 50 mbar to the final pressure within the packaging of less than 5 mbar. This two-stage evacuation arrangement and the controller system allow packaging cycle times to be reduced. A second vacuum network for foil thermoforming operates independently of the packaging vacuum. The thermoforming vacuum ring is maintained at 130 to 200 mbar, a considerably higher pressure than the level required for packaging. All of the vacuum pumps required for the thermoforming of foil to trays are integrated into the centralized vacuum system and are located away from the packaging areas. After more than a year of operation, the Pini Polonia plant is still benefiting from three main advantages of a centralized vacuum system.

1. High Energy Efficiency

Centralized vacuum systems require fewer vacuum pumps than decentralized systems. Because the two-stage evacuation process permits the use of rotary vane vacuum pumps with a smaller volumetric displacement, motor size can be reduced. The system controller maintains a vacuum of 50 mbar in the pipework system, which acts as a vacuum reservoir for all of the packaging lines. Only the number of vacuum pumps required to maintain 50 mbar are active at any one time. Because the packaging lines do not always run with short cycle times and high throughput, only a few of the vacuum pumps normally operate at once. Further energy savings are achieved by vacuum supply centralization: The vacuum pumps operate in a separate room, so no heat is given off to the packaging area. The packaging area’s air-conditioning unit requires less energy because it has less work to do.

2. Improved Hygiene

Because the vacuum supply is centralized, no servicing of the rotary vane vacuum pumps is carried out in the clean areas of the packaging and processing lines. This setup eliminates any possibility of food contamination by oil aerosol from equipment problems because the pumps are located in a separate room.

3. Easier Maintenance

Centralized vacuum systems have a modular construction. Individual modules may be disconnected for maintenance purposes, in which case a standby unit will activate automatically. As a result, maintenance personnel can perform servicing tasks without affecting the packaging line output. Because the vacuum pumps in a centralized system are subjected to lighter loads, the servicing intervals are typically longer than those of decentralized systems. The external location of the centralized vacuum supply is an additional advantage because maintenance work does not cause production downtime or contamination of clean areas.