Spako Food Machinery
Hygiene. Efficiency. Flexibility.
In Asten, Brabant, Spako Food Machinery produces machines and production lines for traditional and industrial food processing. Spako has been supplying customized solutions to this industry since 1954.
Spako Manager R&D Toby van den Boogaart: "We know the high demands and sometimes go the extra mile ourselves. And we distinguish ourselves through good teamwork between our engineers and technicians, who together develop productive, hygienic installations.
Spako Managing Director, Thomas Waals: "It was therefore natural for Spako to choose Streamline HD of Gouda Holland. This is the most hygienic cable management system on the market, and all our machines must meet strict food safety requirements. Streamline HD not only offers more food safety, but also more flexibility in our own production process."
From resistance to appreciation
Yet the technicians at Spako were not immediately cheering, because the switch from conventional cable ducts and wire mesh trays to Streamline HD from Gouda Holland (part of Niedax Group) required adjustments to their daily production process.
Toby van den Boogaart: "Streamline HD is a complete and flexible system that allows us to go in all directions, but the cable routing must be included in the (3D) design phase. It also took some getting used to that hygienic cable management looks different than with cable ties or cable bundles in wire mesh trays."
Our customers appreciate Streamline HD
According to the R&D Manager, the initial resistance quickly turned into a feeling of appreciation. Spako customers noticed that this system is easier to clean and safer because it reduces the risk of recalls and foreign bodies.
Toby van den Boogaart: "Our technicians also noticed that adapting and rewiring machines was much easier and faster. Our machines can now also be connected more quickly in our customers' production environments, which benefits on-site productivity.
At Spako, this system is now the new standard for cable management for all our food processing machines and process lines, because Streamline HD is more hygienic and more flexible and therefore more efficient than conventional cable management. We all benefit from that and it is now widely appreciated."
Flexible. From engineering to installing.
The Spako employees on the shop floor confirm this.
"Adjustments used to always cause a lot of extra work. Now pulling an extra cable is a piece of cake. At the first delivery and testing (FAT), everything must be perfectly wired, but then everything must be reconnected separately and at the end customer's location.
We used to be busy with cable ties all the time. Now it's a matter of pushing cables in and connecting them. We can now even install equipment with any excess lengths hygienically."
Costs and benefits
The subheading says it all: if all goes well, the costs will outweigh the benefits. And Spako has also experienced that the threshold to a new system approach takes some time and effort.
Toby van den Boogaart: "The first machine is always the most difficult. After that, it goes more and more smoothly, because the positions are fixed and the approach is known.
And then the benefits quickly come into view: the time savings on site that can amount to 70% with us, and above all the improved hygienic design are priceless.
In practice, these are often cables that run right above the food processing process. If a high-pressure cleaner is put on it, absolutely nothing should come loose. A cracked cable tie falling into the manufacturing process – that's a serious food safety risk. With Streamline HD, we take away that risk for the end user."
Hygienic design, an ongoing process
What helps is that the solution does not stand alone. Because the engineering at Spako Food Machinery is in-house, from plate to software, the lines between departments are short.
Feedback from the shop floor is considered by the engineers. This makes it possible to see a structurally important topic for food safety, such as hygienic cable management, not as a temporary project, but as an ongoing process that can always be adjusted.
And that's exactly why it works.
Not because it was right the first time, but because the company persevered and always let the experience from practice flow back into the design
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