A new video recently launched by GEA Process Engineering Ltd in the UK looks at the role of innovation in the Home and Personal Care (HPC) sector and its importance for the future both for the customer and the supplier.
The video is presented by Ricardo Davi, Process Engineering Manager. He says that innovation is about creating excitement, not just for customers who reap the benefits in their business, but for GEA employees too who get the chance to express their creativity and see their ideas come to fruition.
Ricardo works out of GEA’s HPC Technology Centre in Warrington, UK. “The Technology Centre is a catalyst,” he says, explaining that combining passionate people with a strong technology portfolio and a shared vision is the key for making a real difference. “We have a good pool of technologies and know-how that can be deployed globally.”
Focussing on specific innovations that Ricardo believes have made a difference, he picks three: the Single Pass Homogeniser that increases productivity and represents part of the process of moving from batch to continuous processing; Ice Pigging, that effectively recovers valuable product from process lines; and Inline Product Analysis that targets elimination of the need for time consuming sampling and laboratory analysis to establish a product’s specification in production.
Looking to the future, Ricardo says that the ability to adapt and develop flexible processes within ever shorter times whilst minimising changes and disruption to existing processes will remain the key driver on HPC. Ricardo adds: “Hygienic processing will also continue as a key driver to eliminate the use of chemical preservatives and as an enabler of productivity and quality.” He also acknowledges the increasingly importance of reducing carbon foot print and water usage speculating that there might come a time when every manufacturer is required to declare the amount of CO2 generated in any product. If that happens, the competition to reduce CO2 content to gain commercial advantages will drive future innovations.
Ricardo Davi
GEA Process Engineering
Tel: 01925 812650
Email: ricardo.davi@gea.com
