A crack in a hose where bacteria accumulate, which then contaminates an entire batch of food products. Or experiencing an industrial accident because a hose fails during the cleaning process. These are the worst nightmares of food producers. Fortunately, that will not happen at Döhler Holland. The company has its food-grade hoses inspected on site by the ERIKS Field Service Team. By outsourcing this, Döhler not only saves time, money and staff each year, but above all the producer complies with its duty of care.

Döhler Holland specialises in supplying 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 products including fruit juices, lemonades, soft drinks and liqueurs. The factory has a closed system and the concentrates are transported from tank to tank through food-grade hoses.

Döhler Group is one of the largest producers of natural ingredients for the food industry in Europe. This means the factory is almost never quiet. Activities are aligned like a well-oiled machine and batch after batch comes off the line according to a structured schedule. Unexpected production downtime is of course never acceptable, in any company. Downtime costs money. But at Döhler it is even more critical. Due to high production volumes, a lost batch cannot simply be recovered if something does go wrong. This is all the more reason to focus as much as possible on quality control and safety. That is why the company has invested, among other things, in having its hoses re-inspected through the ERIKS Field Service Team.

Time left for core tasks

Why would you hand over hose inspections to an external party if you could keep them in-house? Carel Schilders, technical work planner at Döhler Holland, believes in the added value of outsourcing. He is responsible for planning preventive maintenance and weekend activities. If something is not right, it requires his immediate attention and other matters move into the background. “We want to have the freedom to take immediate action to prevent downtime whenever necessary.”

"By outsourcing the inspection and re-inspection of hoses, a burden is taken off us.”

Carel SchildersDöhler Holland

“This means we can always focus on whatever has the highest priority at that moment. In addition, we live in a time when technical staff are very difficult to find. It is a typical task that you can outsource. It is somewhat more expensive than doing it ourselves, but we get a lot of professional support in return.”

Sustainable approach

Having hoses re-inspected also offers more benefits than simply taking work off your hands. It also contributes to a sustainable strategy. A common practice in the sector is to replace hoses after a fixed period. However, this has a major disadvantage: the hose may be replaced too early, while it may still function perfectly well. The ERIKS Field Service Team inspects hoses both externally and internally. By measuring, understanding and recording their condition precisely, the service life of a hose is used to the full.

The reverse also applies: a hose that appears to be in good condition may contain a small hairline crack on the inside. That crack will probably not cause problems immediately, but over time bacteria will accumulate. The result is contamination of the end product. Companies that inspect hoses visually themselves will discover this too late. By then, the damage is already done and an entire batch may be lost. Sustainability is also very important at Döhler; we do not like throwing things away unnecessarily. ERIKS helps us prevent that. And it does not stop there, because it is not simply a matter of producing a new batch. According to Carel, the costs rise quickly: “In our case, we would not only lose the product, but something like that affects many areas. For example, when scarce raw materials were used in that batch. We then have to make them again, or have them delivered by courier. The space, planning and logistics are simply not there, or they cost a great deal of money. Many people have to spend their time on it again. Compared with that, re-inspecting hoses is peanuts.”

All information visible in one place

All hoses used by Döhler are inspected by the ERIKS Field Service Team. We carry out complete inspections and test against defined test pressures, usually double the maximum working pressure. After the test, we issue a certificate with the test results. In addition, everything can be found in our hose registration system, the Hose Management System. This shows the current status of the hoses. It is also possible to link EC 1935/2004 certificates to it. This is particularly useful during an audit, for example, because you can quickly and easily retrieve and provide all required documentation.

The hose registration system is also very useful for Philip Grootjans, Application Engineer Hoses, Accessories and Expansion Joints at ERIKS. He has been visiting Döhler for years and is the contact person for hoses. “I receive feedback in the system on all approved and rejected hoses. If I see that a hose is rejected more often than average, I investigate the reason. I know the installation and understand how the hose is used. Together with Döhler, we then look for a solution to extend the service life of the hose. For example, an application with swivels can prevent the hose from kinking.

Philip Grootjans - Application Engineer Hoses at ERIKS (left) and Carel Schilders, technical work planner at Döhler Holland in the connection room with Goodall Nutralon food-grade hoses.

Complying with the duty of care

By having hoses re-inspected by the ERIKS Field Service Team, Döhler also complies with its duty of care. The use and maintenance of hoses falls under the PRDA, the Practical Guideline for Pressure Equipment. For several years now, legislation has referred to this guideline and states that the user has a duty of care. NPR 5527 specifies why, how, at what pressure and how often different hoses must be re-inspected.

Philip: “Often, people only look at the medium flowing through a hose. But that is not the heaviest load on a hose. The cleaning process is. More and more often, companies choose a shorter cleaning process using a higher temperature and a higher concentration of cleaning agent. 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. That includes the materials they work with. By re-inspecting hoses, you know for sure that the hoses show no defects and are safe to work with.”

“We have ERIKS inspect our hoses because we simply cannot permit ourselves any risks.”

Jaap StruykDöhler Holland

Relying on quality

Jaap Struyk, Maintenance Manager at Döhler, also takes the duty of care very seriously and views the situation 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 are responsible for our staff and for the end user. So we must be able to trust a hose 100%. In addition, our hoses are used late in the process. That means there is no further control by magnets or sieves. It is the last step before the product goes to the customer.”