Arla Westbury Dairies
We were responsible for replacing and installing a new plate heat exchanger into an active and working powder milk factory. The client had two options, one of which was removing the side of the factory wall at considerable downtime to the factory.
A 3,200kg Heat Exchanger Through Multiple Areas of an Active Factory
A considerable challenge was presented to Arla's Westbury dairies powder milk factory when one of their vital 3,200kg plate heat exchangers failed. This left the factory with only one working at maximum capacity and a large hole in their production capability.
Due to the access constraints there were only two options available. The first was to take it through the ground floor of the warehouse storage, up end the unit and hoist to the second floor. Rotate it back onto its base take through large hopper area. Once through the hopper area it needed to be placed onto its side and lifted over various active pipework into the heat exchanger plant room.
Once in the plant room it then needed to be hoisted up vertically and pivoted from vertical to horizontal orientation for positioning in the stack of factory production plant.
The second option was to remove a hole in the side of the second story of the building at considerable cost and disruption to the factory.
- Multiple Complex Lifting Rotations
- Active Food Production Environment
- No crane access - Unit Had To Travel Through Internal Areas To Reach The Plant Room
- Fragile Fins Required Careful Lifting
- Specific GANTT chart scheduling
Bespoke Scaffolding Lifting Structures
Considerable planning was required to design and build multiple scaffolding lifting structures for relocating the heat exchanger through the factory.
Multiple Niko C-track scaffold runway systems were required to allow the specific rotations and precise placements of the unit.
We had to move the unit on site with a lorry mounted crane to get the exchanger to the warehouse area. Heavy machine skates and mechanical/electrical tugs were used were ground moving was a possibility.
A significant amount of planning and collaboration was involved in the lift. Arla dairies had very specific production schedules that we had to work around, and other site activities required our involvement overcoming problems.
Health and safety was a particular concern in a food production factory. All the scaffold boards had to be new and unused. All equipment had to be specially cleaned and signed off for use in the various environments.
- Designed & install bespoke scaffold structures
- Hoisting with complex rotations
- Flat ground heavy skating moving systems
- 4 and 6 point complex lifts
- Limited space sliding into final position
Our Solution for Tight Food Factory Lifting
The significant project planning reduced a large amount of friction for Arla. We kept their downtime to a minimum and didn't impact their staff and colleagues during our operations. We followed the planned schedule and completed the lifting as expected.
From delivery of the heat exchanger to the unit being ready to use spanned 14 days working with all the teams involved.
The operation was smooth and completed on time. The alternative would have caused us so much more grief.Arla Dairies - A Coupe
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