Döhler Holland invests in safety with hose inspections

A small crack in a hose where bacteria accumulate, which goes on to contaminate an entire batch of foodstuffs. Or an industrial accident as a result of a hose breaking during the cleaning process. These are the biggest nightmares of food producers. Fortunately, this will not happen at Döhler Holland. The company has its food hoses inspected on site by the ERIKS Field Service Team. By outsourcing this, Döhler not only saves time, money and personnel every year, but above all fulfils its duty of care.

Döhler Holland specialises in the supply of high-quality semi-finished products for the food and beverage industry. On a 15-hectare site in Oosterhout, natural ingredients, such as fruit juice concentrates, are processed for fruit juices, lemonades, soft drinks and liqueurs, among others. The factory has a closed system and the concentrates are transported from tank to tank via food hoses.

Döhler Group is one of the largest producers of natural ingredients for the food industry in Europe. This means that it is hardly ever quiet in the factory. The work is coordinated like a well-oiled machine, and batch after batch rolls off the conveyor belt according to a structured schedule. Of course, an unexpected production stoppage is never acceptable, not in any company. After all, inactivity costs money. But at Döhler, it is utterly out of the question. Due to high production volumes, it is impossible to make up for a lost batch if something does go wrong. All the more reason to put maximum effort into quality control and safety. That is why Döhler invested in hose re-inspections by the ERIKS Field Service Team.

Focus on the essentials

Why outsource the inspection of hoses if you can keep things in-house? Carel Schilders, technical planner at Döhler Holland, believes in the added value of outsourcing. He is in charge of planning preventive maintenance and weekend work. If something goes wrong, it demands his immediate attention and other matters are shifted to the background. "We want to have the capacity to take immediate action when needed to avoid downtime."

Sustainable approach

Having hoses re-inspected has more advantages than just taking work off your hands. For example, it also contributes to a sustainable strategy. A common aspect in the industry is the replacement of hoses after a fixed period of time. However, this has a major drawback: a perfectly functioning hose may end up being replaced too soon. The ERIKS Field Service Team inspects hoses from the outside and inside. By precisely measuring, knowing and recording the condition, the life span of a hose is optimised.

Fulfilling the duty of care

By having hoses re-inspected by the ERIKS Field Service Team, Döhler also fulfils its duty of care. The use of hose maintenance is covered by the Pressure Equipment Directive (PED). For a number of years now, legislation has referred to this directive and stated that the user has a duty of care. The NPR 5527 states why, how, at what pressure and how often various hoses must be re-inspected.

Philip: "Often, only the product flowing through a hose is considered. But that is not the heaviest load for a hose. That is the cleaning process. Increasingly, a shorter cleaning process is chosen whereby a higher temperature and a higher concentrate is cleaned. That is the heaviest load and at the same time the most dangerous. A hose that ruptures during a cleaning process can cause a very serious industrial accident. As an employer, you have a duty of care to protect your employees from danger. This includes the materials they work with. By re-inspecting hoses, you can be sure that the hoses show no defects and are safe to work with."

Trust in quality

Jaap Struyk, Maintenance Manager at Döhler, also takes the duty of care very seriously and looks at things from an even broader perspective. "Everything we do in the factory and the products that leave it must be safe. For me, that falls under the duty of care. We have a responsibility to our staff and to the end user. So we must be able to trust a hose 100%. In addition, our hoses are located at a late stage in the production process. That means there is no more inspection by magnets or sieves. It is the last step before the product goes to the customer."