Neither Pandemic nor Lockdown Stayed Allpax from the Completion of its Appointed Project
For 35 days, waves of Allpax technicians camped out in a copacker’s parking lot during a canning operation upgrade.
COVINGTON, La., September 9, 2020 – Allpax, a product brand of ProMach, and a canned food copacker could just have easily postponed an end-of-line capacity expansion while Kansas was under COVID-19 lockdown. Or, Allpax and its customer could mutually develop a solution that met travel and safe workplace requirements and charge ahead with the upgrade. Proceed they did with a project that would increase the plant’s capacity by about 50%.
Let’s camp in the parking lot
Brand owners and retailers were counting on the copacker to meet its commitment for increased shipments of canned foods. But, how could Allpax have successive waves of technicians – a total of 15 over a five-week period – safely reside in Kansas? Staying in a motel was not an option, as that required a 14-day quarantine. And, how could the crews safely travel to and from Kansas from Louisiana without added risk of COVID-19 exposure?
With the permission granted by the State of Kansas, Allpax crew members with their luggage and tools drove rental cars 13 hours from Covington, La., directly to the customer’s plant making sure to social distance at each stop. Arriving at the plant, the crew stowed their gear in one of five assorted recreational vehicles (RVs) rented by copacker and located in the facility’s parking lot.
A daily health log for each team member
before entering the plant in the morning, temperatures were taken and logged for each crew member. And, facemasks were donned along with the usual safety and sanitary gear – hairnets, beard nets, steel-toed boots, and shirts without buttons. Then crew members went to work. Social distancing was practiced in the plant and handshakes were nonexistent. Workdays averaged 13 hours, with some as long as 16 hours. Meals consisted of takeout.
The Allpax crew installed a new can loader, unloader, and conveyor system. There were major upgrades made to the plant’s retorts and conveyor systems. A new Allpax retort will be installed later this year. An automated basket tracking system was added. Non-Allpax portions of the project included can fillers and seamers and associated labeling and conveying equipment.
The goal of the project was to allow an uninterrupted flow of various sized cans to be filled, processed, and labeled and reduce to near zero changeover downtime. Higher uptime and the addition of a new retort will expand plant capacity by up to 50% and support the copacker’s continued growth.
About Allpax
Allpax, a product brand of ProMach, is a global leader in the design and fabrication of food sterilization (cookers/retorts/autoclaves), material handling automation equipment, and systems for the refrigerated foods and low acid, shelf-stable food, beverage, and pharmaceutical/nutraceutical industries. Allpax is a full-service provider to both small and large multinational processors. Learn more about Allpax at www.Allpax.com.
About ProMach
ProMach is a family of best-in-class packaging solution brands serving manufacturers of all sizes and geographies in the food, beverage, pharmaceutical, personal care, and household and industrial goods industries. ProMach brands operate across the entire packaging spectrum: filling and capping, flexibles, pharma, product handling, labeling and coding, and end of line. ProMach also provides Performance Services, including integrated solutions, design/build, engineering services, and productivity software to optimize packaging line design and deliver maximum uptime.
ProMach designs, manufactures, integrates, and supports the most sophisticated and advanced packaging solutions in the global marketplace. Its diverse customer base, from Fortune 500 companies to smaller, privately held businesses worldwide, depends on reliable, flexible, technologically advanced equipment and integrated solutions. ProMach is headquartered near Cincinnati, Ohio, with manufacturing facilities and offices throughout the United States, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Europe, United Arab Emirates, and China. For more information about ProMach, visit www.ProMachBuilt.com.
Media Contact
John Eklund | Vice President, Marketing
ProMach
John.Eklund@promachbuilt.com
