PROJECT
INCORPORATING COLD CHAIN
Continued from page 1
Lynca Meats –
from power hog to lean operation
T
he sprawling Lynca Meats facility an outsourced refrigeration model to be
consists of 28 temperature-regulated introduced. “Managing the refrigeration
rooms for the production of a host requirements of a facility of this scale
of processed pork products; an abattoir had become increasingly time-intensive,
that markets carcasses, boxed meat requiring specialised knowledge. We
and offal; and dedicated units that offer realised that handing this managerial
multi-principle cold storage warehousing responsibility over to outsourced specialists
and logistical solutions to clients. would therefore be in the best interest of
The temperature requirements for the
facility range from -25°C to 5°C, and
the business, as it would allow us to focus
solely on the company’s core activities.”
each room has its own specified cooling
shift, which ranges between 2.5 and
24 hours. This means that each room’s
coolers need to be controlled separately.
Achieving this with Lynca Meats’
existing more than 20-year-old
refrigeration system was fast becoming
untenable in terms of cost, as well as
reliability.
The old system had extremely high
energy requirements, and with the
cost of electricity having increased by
above-inflation levels over recent years,
this was already a significant challenge
to keeping operating costs down. The
The entire system
would be installed
at no capital cost to
the client, and EP
Refrigeration would
maintain the system
and sell refrigeration as
a utility to Lynca
The Jace Box inside the plant room.
system maintenance had also become
quite challenging with maintenance EP Refrigeration subsequently offered the
costs rapidly mounting, while the upgrade under the EP Cooling Sales Model
facility experienced frequent periods of on a 10-year contract. The entire system
downtime that affected production and would be installed at no capital cost to the
caused stock losses. An upgrade was client, and EP Refrigeration would maintain
therefore a matter of urgency. the system and sell refrigeration as a utility to
OUTSOURCING REFRIGERATION
Lynca Meats CEO, Brent Fairlie,
acknowledged that this necessary
upgrade posed the ideal opportunity for
The floor board.
12
Lynca Meats, who would reserve the right
to buy the system on residual value at any
point in time.
This essentially means that Lynca
Meats would receive a guarantee in
Multiplex low temp for plants A and B.
Low-temp evaporative condenser.
www.coldlinkafrica.co.za
Refrigerant receivers for the medium-temp B and C.
COLD LINK AFRICA • May 2019