One of the challenges of offering such a bespoke service is that it’s difficult to quantify, particularly when your customers perhaps aren’t fully aware of the potential benefits of your service.
We’ve talked a lot about the benefits of PTFE and Teflon coatings for the baking industry as a lot of our customers are bakers and it’s something the industry is quickly adopting. But the same process can apply to other food industries, so this case study looks at how we help a Salmon processing company improve their production process.
The (un)slippy situation...
Our client has a large product line which ranges from simple cooked fillets to smoked or flavoured fillets all the way to speciality gravlax and canapé products. As you can imagine, this involves a wide range of equipment and skills to manage.
Their existing process used many wire racks; each about 1200mm square and stacked 30 high. The salmon fillets are laid out on single-use, perforated silicone paper (perforations are essential to perform the smoking process).
This works well for plain products, although it does add more cost from the specialist paper, cleaning, paper disposal and labour costs.
However, when we look at something like a sweet chilli coated product (yup sugar in there), before long the fillets are almost glued to the silicone paper.
This results in the product being damaged as it is removed from the paper (which is a critical problem for a premium product) and is also time-consuming (adding several steps to the production process).
Why don’t they already use coatings?
Well, they never really knew about them.
That’s something we find everywhere. People assume that because others aren’t using coatings on this type of application, or because the equipment manufacturers don’t offer it, it mustn’t be a good choice.
However, the truth is that they are not used widely because people don’t know the service exists. Even speaking with the Editors of industry magazines, we hear that they’re only just beginning to cover the process in their publications.
Whilst PTFE coatings have been around for 20 years, there is still a lack of knowledge and information. Even the equipment manufacturers don’t always understand them so they stick to stainless steel and pass the sticky problems over to their customers.
We don’t do that.
We like solutions, so we offered solutions to our customer.
They liked it and promptly ordered a number of coated racks to conduct a long term test.
Oops. It worked too well...
A problem cropped up and, well, admittedly we laughed a little bit. It really was a compliment to us that the fish were sliding off the racks and landing on the floor!
Perhaps not an ideal solution though! So with a little tweak to the process, the problem was easily solved.
In the end, the PTFE coated racks from AFT Fluorotec Coatings have had a huge impact on this customer:
- £100k annually saved on silicone paper purchase alone.
- Labour savings on paper handling = cost savings.
- Labour and waste savings on paper disposal = cost savings.
- Environmental damage limitation from using and disposal of paper = cost savings and a high five from customers.
- Huge reduction in chemical requirement and concentration in tray cleaning = cost savings and environmental impact reductions...another high five!
- ...and finally, if this wasn’t enough, a more consistent high-quality product with less waste due to damage.
Do we need to say any more? Don’t assume PTFE coatings only work for other people or other products.
If you are cooking we can almost certainly make your life easier and save you money. If we can reduce your environmental impact and improve your product as well as we have done here, we will be very happy and sure you and your customers will be too.
Don’t hesitate to get in touch with us, even if you’re not certain we can help you out. We’re happy to have a chat about the benefits that PTFE coatings can bring to your business.
