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Remote Commissioning of Equipment Allows Installation During Covid-19
Normally the supply, installation and commissioning of a heat exchanger to sterilise food ingredients such as wort would be a relatively straightforward exercise, with HRS project engineers travelling from their bases in Spain or the UK to the client’s location. However, the travel and operation restrictions imposed globally by the Coronavirus pandemic earlier this year meant that a different approach was required for one HRS MI Series installation in the United States in April and May of 2020.
An HRS Asepticblock system was delivered to a client in the United States in late summer 2019 and installed by the client. At this point HRS project engineers would normally visit the client to complete the commissioning and troubleshooting process. However, by March 2020, the world was a very different place due to the Coronavirus pandemic. Spain was in lockdown and there were travel restrictions between many parts of Europe and the United States.
It was therefore necessary to come up with a different method for commissioning the system. All HRS systems can, with the customer’s agreement, be fitted with a remote monitoring and telemetry system using either an ethernet connection (as is the case with this project) or an integrated data SIM in the equipment.
This enabled a dedicated project engineer, to manage the commissioning from Murcia in Spain along with a system programmer. To allow for the six-hour time difference with US Eastern Time, the HRS team worked at night, resulting in minimal disruption to the client’s day-to-day business and allowing the remote team to address issues as they were identified. This allowed the system software to be adjusted as necessary while the steriliser was operating. Backed up by regular dialogue using online conferencing software, the set-up and commissioning process was completed in just four weeks.