When tradition meets innovation at Destrooper Olivier

Context

Authenticity and tradition are core values of the company and in order to meet the increasing national and international demand and in order to ensure the quality of the authentic recipes, the company decided in 2015 to scale up its production site to a more modern and performing facility. Given the fact that Spiromatic had also installed an important part of the initial infrastructure, it was only logic that they were called to tackle the renovation of the factory.

Challenge

Since its start in 1986 the company has continued to grow and in order to meet that growing demand the originally quite modest installation had been ‘expanded’ with intermediate solutions. As a result the production flow had become far from lean and moreover these DIY - expansions had reached their limits.

Spiromatic was asked not only to modernize the infrastructure, but also to reconfigure the production lay out within the existing premises. Before designing the new lay out, the Spiromatic engineering team spent quite some time with the Destrooper Olivier management and their German co-owner Küchenmeister, in order to ensure that the new facility would meet all the client’s demands, not only today but also tomorrow.

Solution

Given their vast experience, turning this small-scale and slightly outdated bakery into a fully automated and modern production facility was a piece of cake for the Spiromatic engineers. They developed a comprehensive configuration where nearly everything was replaced, moved and automated:

• Flour and sugar are now stored in two new 50-ton composite silos. The silos were personalized by adding the Belgian Butter logo and moreover, the galvanized top was masked by a sleeve, giving the silos a very lean look.
• As the dough chamber is the heart of the factory, special attention was given to this. Spiromatic replaced 2 of the 3 Tonnaer kneaders and moreover, moved all 3 of them in order to get a leaner production flow. In order to increase accuracy, Spiromatic also installed 3 new weighing bunkers in the dough chamber, each with a 350 kg content.
• Dedusting filters were installed on the kneaders, for a cleaner and healthier work environment.
• Spiromatic also helped designing a separate room with kneaders solely used for handling allergen ingredients.
• A new spiral transport now guarantees a fast (3.5 ton/hour) flux of ingredients to the kneaders.
• Moreover, a new Siemens automation system – linked to the client’s ERP system - was installed, ensuring a very accurate and phased handling and dosing of ingredients into the kneaders.

Results

• The new installation is more user-friendly, faster and more reliable than before, resulting in constant quality of the traditional recipes.
• The remote control access to the automation system allows Destrooper to perfectly control, monitor and trace the ingredient flux, the mixing and the production process, even from a distance.
• Thanks to the automation system, there is a better recipe control and optimal traceability.
• The new installation ensures the company is ready to meet further increased demand and other future challenges.