RISING TO THE COVID CHALLENGE

PANDEMIC UPDATE

Many businesses have felt the impact of COVID-19 over the past year. MacIntyre Chocolate Systems is just one example of how to rise to the Coronavirus challenge.

Rising to the

COVID challenge

In March 2020, it was difficult to predict just how the year would unfold from a business perspective. Very little activity in the market was experienced during April, as businesses around the world adapted to home working, reduced their operations or temporarily closed their doors. However, with the food industry being fundamental during lockdowns and supermarkets being one of the few sectors where it was essential to continue, the demand for supplies from food production companies was high and, in turn, the support required from food machinery manufacturers to their customer base was crucial. Business during the pandemic has therefore been buoyant.

One of the challenges encountered for MacIntyre Chocolate Systems was the abrupt suspension of visits by its service team and commissioning engineers – an area where supporting in any way other than personally on-site was difficult to comprehend.

With most customers preferring onsite support, some changes were required. Fortunately, the launch of the New Generation model in 2017 incorporated a remote administration diagnostic tool into the PLC which has been invaluable in assuring a streamlined start up for customers around the world. This functionality has been an invaluable addition to commissioning work in the form of video calls, according to the company.

Fortunately, the electrical design team planned to introduce electrical phase detection into the Next Generation design (launched in 2019), to make the installation process even easier for customers. This has proven most useful as remote commissioning work continues.

The very latest Siemens software is extremely flexible and encompasses a large suite of software. Guiding customers remotely in the operation of the HMI has never been easier with tools such as enhanced online support service.

On the mechanical design side, with the team completing work on the Next Generation model during the first half of 2020, the crucial changes couldn’t have been timelier. Already, the market was seeing benefits from the incorporation of air pressure seal for the rotational shaft at the gearbox end.

The removal of glands and gland packing meant that less customers required service visits. With the same changes being made at the delivery end (for appropriate models), this historically, tricky to maintain area has become basically maintenance-free.

More importantly, the need for service visits has been minimised for those customers who choose to use MacIntyre engineers for the task.

Plans often don’t work out quite as expected. MacIntyre had planned to launch its latest technology at interpack, meeting all its longstanding customers and introducing themselves and their versatile MacIntyre Refiner/Conche to new companies. Instead, the effective modifications have been quietly making a difference to their customers in the market while the sales team continue to meet people from all over the world remotely in order to explain what MacIntyre can do to improve their daily operations.