Hygienic Design of Food Factories

John Holah, Huub L. M. Lelieveld, John Holah, Huub Lelieveld

• Publisher: Woodhead Publishing
• Year: 2011
• ISBN:
  9780857094933
• Topic: Technik & Maschinenbau
• Subtopic: Lebensmittelwissenschaft

Food safety is vital for consumer confidence, and the hygienic design of food processing facilities is central to the manufacture of safe products. Hygienic design of food factories provides an authoritative overview of hygiene control in the design, construction and renovation of food factories.The business case for a new or refurbished food factory, its equipment needs and the impacts on factory design and construction are considered in two introductory chapters. Part one then reviews the implications of hygiene and construction regulation in various countries on food factory design. Retailer requirements are also discussed. Part two describes site selection, factory layout and the associated issue of airflow. Parts three, four and five then address the hygienic design of essential parts of a food factory. These include walls, ceilings, floors, selected utility and process support systems, entry and exit points, storage areas and changing rooms. Lastly part six covers the management of building work and factory inspection when commissioning the plant.With its distinguished editors and international team of contributors, Hygienic design of food factories is an essential reference for managers of food factories, food plant engineers and all those with an academic research interest in the field.

• An authoritative overview of hygiene control in the design, construction and renovation of food factories
• Examines the implications of hygiene and construction regulation in various countries on food factory design
• Describes site selection, factory layout and the associated issue of airflow

1

Business case assessment and design essentials for food factory building projects

J. Holah, Campden BRI, UK

Abstract:

New or refurbished food factories are built to increase the output of existing products, to provide a new facility if the existing processing environment/equipment is outdated or to undertake a new product range. In the vast majority of cases, however, the decision to build will only be given following an appropriate business plan. For a new product, the business plan will need to consider what the size of the market for it is and whether people will buy it for what it would cost to produce. For all products, however, and in terms of their effects on building design, the plan will detail the products’ requirements for raw materials and storage, the process and product flow streams, services, packaging and storage, number of staff and shift patterns, finished product volumes and storage and waste disposal needs.

Key words

new product development

product specification

business plan

process design

1.1 Introduction

This chapter forms an introduction to the whole book in that prior to investing in a food factory building project, whether that be a refurbishment, extension or new-build project, you need a food product to sell! Indeed, further to this, the food product fundamentally affects the final building design, as the type of food product, its size and packaging, how it is processed and how many individual packs are required in a given time period, will all deliver their own building design constraints. Adherence to the information and guidance in the following chapter should help to get the food factory building design project off to the best possible start.

1.2 The need for a new or refurbished food factory

The requirement for a new or refurbished food factory may be for a number of reasons including:

• To increase the output of existing products. However, when ‘simply’ increasing the output of existing products, the first consideration should be: do you really need to build at all? Is it possible that you can get by using different production methods/times, etc, in the existing facility?

• To provide a new facility if the existing processing environment/equipment is outdated or does not meet current/future client’s requirements or legislation.

• To undertake a new product range, either as a new company seeking its first manufacturing premises or as an existing food manufacturer expanding its product range.

For a new food manufacturer, any products produced will be new to the market as a matter of course. For an existing manufacturer, new products are designed to increase business profits stemming from increased sales volume and/or increased profit margin on existing products sold. New products may also be necessary for:

• Defensive action – a competitor may introduce a new product range that you have to match/improve on.

• Strategy/corporate prestige – your company may identify a need to buy its way into a new market sector or to enhance its image with a new range of products.

• Improve quality/reduce costs – successful businesses tend to upgrade quality and/or reduce costs by adopting new processes/technologies/equipment.

For ‘commodity’ type products it may be possible to either expand sales volume by expanding the market or expand market share by developing new products in those parts of the sector which are growing (or develop new markets). Many food manufacturers continue to move into ‘added value’ products, which may be characterised as being:

• Convenient.

• Attractive.

• New/novel/unique.

• Different from competition.

• Interesting/unusual/exciting.

• High consumer appeal.

• Price difficult to compare.

• High margin.

Once a decision has been made to develop one or more new products, product development is undertaken in three key steps:

1. Ideageneration.

2. Idea acceptance.

3. Generation of a product specification brief and business plan.

New product development is a complex subject in its own right and only the essentials that relate to building design are covered in this introductory chapter. For more detailed information in this area, readers are referred to Product development guide for the food industry (Hutton, 2007).

1.3 A new product: generation, approval, specification and business plan

1.3.1 Idea generation

The development of new products is normally undertaken in-house and should encompass as many people as possible because:

• Everybody, not just the product development department, is capable of generating good ideas.

• All departments within the factory will play some role in the development of new products, whether it be the sourcing of new raw materials, sourcing new kit, planning factory trials, evaluating shelf life, evaluating microbiological safety, calculating production costs, selecting, cleaning and maintaining the equipment, selling the product, etc.

• Product development costs money and gets in the way of day-to-day activities such as manufacture and sales. Without the support from senior management downwards, new product development will not have the necessary support to ensure that the ideas generated at the earliest stage end up as products on retail display.

Not all food and drink companies conduct their creative ...