GEA developed a new service of preassembled modules for quicker installation of ovens at its customers’ plants – GEA Bakery Plug & Play. Working to support its customers with complex installation processes, GEA has been offering the possibility of preassembling modules at the production facility in Verona, Italy.
At the beginning of the project to create a Plug-and-Play-Service, the GEA engineers carried out a theoretical study on a 65 m long and 1.2 m wide oven. Considering that there are many factors in place such as the conveyor belt, fuel and heating system used, a good estimate of the time needed to install the disassembled oven is around 45 days. With the Plug-and-Play option, it is now possible to reduce the installation time to as little as 20 days. This study looked at both the mechanical assembly and electrical connections but did not include commissioning.
“The aim of plug & play ovens is to speed up the installation process, in order to reduce production downtime at the customer facility,” says Mario Da Ros – Senior Director, Project Management at GEA. “Preassembled ovens are a great way to ensure a high-quality installation phase of our ovens, given that it is mainly carried out at our own facility” he continues.
The benefits of this new plug-and-play option were recently demonstrated during the installation of a large oven for an overseas customer. Gianluca Dolci – Senior Director, Project Execution at GEA detailed: “In December 2023, we delivered a 124 m long and 1.6 m wide oven to Indonesia. We managed to display all 58 pre-assembled modules in five days, which meant that GEA electricians could start working on the oven at the customer’s site at the same time as GEA mechanics, a huge advantage that guarantees a much faster installation”. In this case, the 124 m oven took four weeks instead of eight thanks to the pre-assembled modules.
Plug & Play ovens significantly reduce labor costs: the total number of people working on the line is reduced, both for mechanics and electriciansIn addition, the need for highly specialized personnel is no longer fundamental, as the most complex operations are carried out during the pre-assembly of the modules at GEA’s production site, the company explained.
Photo: GEA
