New Allpax Initiative Focuses on Retort Safety in Older Canneries
August 25, 2010
Covington, LA - Allpax Products, a division of Pro Mach and a market leader in retort technology and retort room automation, announced today a new auditing and repair initiative to raise the overall level of pressure-vessel safety and lower risk within older canneries that utilize vertical saturated steam and water immersion retorts.
"Through an Allpax safety-first audit and repair process, organizations not only gain peace of mind, but also improvements to uptime and throughput," says Greg Jacob, Allpax general manager. "Overall maintenance costs should fall as well."
The Allpax program focuses on evaluation and repair of vertical saturated steam and water immersion retorts in order to make the retort room a safer environment for workers, extend the service life of these pressure vessels, and develop an economical migration strategy when it is no longer practical to maintain those retorts.
The Allpax solution
Allpax personnel use specialized equipment, including ultrasonic testers, in their initial audit of the pressure vessels. Technicians ascertain the amount of corrosion in the walls of the carbon steel vessels and establish the overall integrity and safety of those walls while under pressure. Allpax personnel also assess the integrity of doors, hinges, clamps, and latches. Technicians examine retort baskets with particular attention to basket handles, which have the highest probability of failure due to metal fatigue and corrosion.
"The vast majority of components, such as doors, hinges, clamps, and baskets that require repair or replacement were custom fabrications when new," says Jacob. "Allpax fabricates custom parts, which saves the cannery time and money on repairs."
For more information on improving the sustainability of canneries through pressure-vessel safety improvements, control system upgrades, the availability of otherwise hard to obtain retort accessories, and solutions targeting energy savings and energy recovery, call 1-888-893-9277. To read about control system revitalization for vertical saturated steam and water immersion canneries visit www.Allpax.com/Canneries. Allpax is ASME certified for pressure-vessel construction and repair.
About Allpax Products
Allpax Products, the market leader in retort technology and retort room automation, designs, manufactures, and delivers turnkey sterilization solutions for the food, beverage, pet food, and pharmaceutical industries. The company is recognized for helping customers become more successful by decreasing time to market with laboratory retort equipment, lowering overall labor costs through automation, and increasing the overall throughput of the sterilization process. The company is headquartered in Covington, LA, and is the sole U.S. licensee of the Shaka retort process.
Allpax is a division of Pro Mach, a Cincinnati, Ohio based provider of integrated packaging products and solutions for food, beverage, household goods, pharmaceutical, and other diverse consumer and industrial companies. Through three business units and related divisions, Pro Mach provides equipment, training, installation, and parts in primary packaging, end-of-line packaging, and identification and tracking.
For more information about Pro Mach visit www.ProMachInc.com.
Media Contact:
Jack Aguero
513-831-8778, ext 423
jaguero@ProMachInc.com