Modernisation project, 2019. For the company Zentis is Aachen, one of the most important and largest fruit-processing operations in Europe, in 2003 H+H installed the transport equipment in the new goods-reception store. After working for more than 15 years, in 2019 some components have had to be exchanged and replaced by modern versions.
To modernise the conveyor technology, it was necessary to dismantle older plant components and to supply, assemble and commission an appropriate pallet conveyor system corresponding to present-day requirements, the whole being made from stainless steel. Because operation should continue also during the assembly times, an interim control system also had to be provided.
The scope of the contract also included the replacement of the pallet changer. This important system component is installed in the so-termed “fruit preparation” section, in which the goods required at the time, recovered from the stores, are filled in portion amounts and conveyed for further processing. The company’s quality management system prescribes that only the company’s own plastic pallets must be used in the processing section. For that reason, when they are called for from the store for the first time, the goods have to be placed onto different pallets. For this, the wooden pallets used in the cycle are exchanged for in-house plastic pallets. For that purpose a new, more efficient pallet-changer, also made in part of stainless steel and exceptionally maintenance-free, equipped with new features, was supplied and adapted for integration in the control system.