Baling presses from HSM
Van Hees earns money with pressed waste
Pressed waste Savings of more than 100,000 euros per year, a return on investment of nine months and lower personnel costs: thanks to its five HSM balers, additive and spice manufacturer Van Hees actually earns money with its waste.
"We had a treasure that we hadn't discovered." Marc Wohlbold, Project Manager Production at Van Hees, helped to unearth the treasure. He didn't have to search for long at the meat production supplier. The gold was practically in the waste garbage cans, or more precisely in 20 cubic meter container presses, in which all packaging waste from production was disposed of unsorted and unpressed.
The recycling service provider did not even pay for this material. In addition, there was a process that had become established at the Van Hees headquarters in Walluf, Hesse: the packaging waste from production and shipping was transported out of the factory building loose in 1.1 cubic meter containers. The material remained uncompacted, so sometimes a container with 15 kilograms of waste was pushed outside - and it was a long way, because the filling plant and mixing plant are located on the second floor, so the 30 containers were transported by elevator. This added up to 12,480 elevator rides per year.
175 hours a month for waste
15 minutes of working time per emptying, including waiting for the elevator, makes 175 hours a month, "roughly a man-year just for pushing garbage back and forth," Wohlbold calculates. "An absurdity," he thought, shortly after starting his job at the successful family-owned medium-sized company in 2011.
Marc Wohlbold focused the company's attention on the topic of waste, "perhaps not a sexy topic", he says, "but one with a lot of savings potential". Especially when you handle as much waste as Van Hees does. The company's 4,000 products are manufactured in Walluf from 1,400 recipes, all of which are packaged either in big bags or sacks. Due to the raw materials, the annual waste volumes are impressive: 113 tons of big bags, 90 tons of film, 90 tons of cardboard and 60 tons of paper.
Wohlbold's first step in terms of waste management: the company began to separate the fractions. Van Hees then changed waste disposal companies and from then on received compensation for its recyclable materials. The third stage of the waste evolution was the optimization of the company's internal processes and the consideration of setting up baling presses in production so that in future only compressed 400-kilogram bales would be transported through the company.
Marc Wohlbold looked at three manufacturers and finally opted for an HSM V-Press 860 S. HSM adapted the vertical baler to the needs of the new customer and provided the machine with a hydraulic oil that is approved for the food industry. Van Hees also received a machine with a vertical sliding door for filling, because it is simply quicker to close than a side door, says Wohlbold. Finally, Van Hees ordered an S version of the V-Press 860 with a reinforced press box, because large quantities of plastics (polypropylene) are produced in Walluf.
Five years in continuous operation
Five years after the V-Press 860 S was first used, "this machine is still running perfectly," reports Wohlbold. "It has never really caused any problems." And that in heavy continuous use, because pressing big bags is no child's play. The material is expansive anyway, plus the high aggressiveness of the residues: salts, acetates, spices, etc. Wohlbold: "Regular maintenance and an intensive thorough cleaning once a year and you're good to go."
Today, five V-Press 860s are in operation at Van Hees. Three in the mixing department, one in the filling department and one in the goods receiving and dispensing department for cardboard boxes. There are also two manually operated V-Press 60 mobile baling presses, which ensure order and cleanliness in the dispatch area. The company in Walluf is satisfied with the manufacturer's service. If service is required, someone from HSM is on site the day after next at the latest. "However, there have not yet been any major breakdowns," says Wohlbold.
The staff also quickly became friends with their new powerful helpers. The fact that the vertical baling presses from HSM also require little space in the cramped production area further enhances their reputation.
The balers at Van Hees churn out marketable bales weighing between 320 and 420 kilograms. Because a bale only has to be transported every few days, the company saves 12,480 elevator trips per year, Wohlbold has calculated. In addition, depending on the market situation, revenues currently average 90 euros per tonne for the big bag bale. Van Hees either sells the recyclable material itself or uses a trading company, depending on the offer. An ROI of nine months has therefore been calculated for the Big Bag recyclable material for the press, and twelve months for less expensive recyclable materials - these results, says Wohlbold, relate purely to marketing, and do not even take into account the savings on elevator journeys and personnel costs.
Marc Wohlbold's line manager is also satisfied with the innovations in waste management at the headquarters. After all, expectations have been exceeded and when the prices are good, Van Hees even earns money with the waste from production, says the project manager. as
You might also be interested in
Conrad continues to grow
Conrad Electronic now generates 80% of its sales with business customers and has successfully developed from a traditional technology retailer into a B2B procurement platform. The company aims to become Europe's leading procurement platform for...
read more...AI finds its way into automotive customer service
In addition to computer solutions for vehicle diagnostics, Getac now also offers AI-based digital tools that support customer contact in service operations.
read more...SMC: "Preferred Supplier" from Bosch
The technology and service company Bosch has recognized SMC for the performance of its automation technology in factory and process automation and awarded it the status of "Preferred Supplier" in the material group "Standardized Pneumatic Devices".
read more...Combined ERP forces
The medium-sized ERP providers Step Ahead Software, Godesys and Informing merge to form the Step Ahead Group.
read more...Cybersecurity for asset-intensive companies
Forge Cybersecurity Platform, the new software platform from Honeywell, has been developed for the cybersecurity of asset-intensive companies and critical infrastructures. The platform is available in three versions.
read more...Automated machine tool as a success factor
Industry 4.0 is the hot topic of the moment. For small and medium-sized companies and contract manufacturers, it holds great potential for increasing production efficiency step by step. The focus here is on efficient and user-specific automation...
read more...Nemo hand vacuum lifts all materials
A new addition to the Eurotech portfolio is the battery-operated Nemo vacuum cleaner, which is suitable for handling almost all surfaces.
read more...Future-oriented cobot projects
Three pillars of successful cobot initiatives
What is important if cobot projects are to be future-oriented? Automation and robotics expert Omron has identified three aspects for human-machine collaboration.
read more...Short-stroke linear actuator instead of pneumatic cylinders
The new short-stroke linear actuator from Ketterer Antriebe and halstrup-walcher is characterized by high dynamics and a large stroke in a compact size. Thanks to the integrated electronics, the drive is easy to control compared to pneumatic...
read more...