SPIE: Technical services for the food industry in Germany

Published on 15 February 2024

Ratingen, 15 February 2024 – SPIE, the independent European leader in multi-technical services in the areas of energy and communications, has been providing comprehensive industrial services for a global player in the food chemistry sector since October 2022. In order to meet the high demands on site, SPIE built up a strong team of 25 people, which is set to grow further in the coming months. The technicians are ensuring that the food manufacturer’s production will run around the clock after the switch from corn to wheat processing is completed.

Partner for the plant

SPIE’s industrial services technicians are used to challenges: they ensure that every building, every system and every piece of infrastructure in the customer’s plants – from the lighting and air conditioning in the production facilities to the machines – functions so that production can run smoothly.

The Efficient Facilities operational division, West branch, of SPIE Deutschland & Zentraleuropa is providing extensive technical services for a customer in the food industry at one of their plants, which is currently undergoing conversion from corn to wheat processing. The contract includes mechanical maintenance, conversions and assembly as well as technical services in the fields of electrical engineering, refrigeration and air conditioning technology, but also equipment testing – from sliding doors to cranes. “We are acting as a partner for the plant. This also includes proposals to optimise structures – for example, optimising energy consumption and improving working comfort by switching to LED lighting,” explains Dirk Lorenz, Branch Manager responsible from the Key Account Siemens Business Unit in the Efficient Facilities operational division.

Highest safety requirements

Given the dimensions of the machinery and systems alone – motors with a voltage of up to six kilovolts and weighing over five tonnes – the highest requirements regarding occupational safety must always be observed in the industrial sector. Production in the food sector is subject to the strictest hygiene and cleanliness requirements in addition: for example, strict attention must be paid at all times to allergen and non-allergen areas, which require special protective clothing, for example. In addition, all maintenance on the production site is based on an approval process. “This of course requires a high level of technical knowledge and process expertise, but also logistics and coordination in order to carry out the necessary work at the right time. The safety of our own employees and that of the customer is always our top priority,” explains Peter Himmel, the project manager responsible on site. “It is all the more important that we built up a very strong and efficient team here in a short space of time, one that is fully aware of the great responsibility involved,” adds Stefan Schusterschitz, Member of the Operational Division Management of the Efficient Facilities operational division at SPIE Deutschland & Zentraleuropa. The group on site is expected to grow to 40 people in the next few months so that it will also be able to take over the piping field in the future.

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