published on 17/06/09
Contract Engineers are increasingly installing equipment that cuts costs and uses fewer resources but the big names will have to get behind its evolution to power an energy revolution.

The ‘eco' tag that equipment manufacturers like to slip into the names of their new machines will mean ‘ecology' to some customers, ‘economy' to others. To many it will mean both, and in this day of cutting costs, that coupled with the commanplace procedure of outsourcing the engineering side means things are looking good.
A machine that won't burn a hole in your pocket or the ozone layer can be highly attractive. But what may appear to make perfect sense from a carbon footprint or cost perspective can sometimes have drawbacks.
KHS launched the Eco-shrinktunnel in spring 2008. Rather than use traditional electrical power, this particular eco-machine uses mains gas. While this can mean significant cost savings in markets such as Germany and the UK where electricity costs are high, the shrinkwrapper uses the same 100kw per hour required by other lines, explains product manager for packaging machinery Werner Ageling. Kilowatt for kilowatt, gas is often considered to be more carbon-efficient than mains electricity
That said, power generation differences mean that the environmental and cost profiles of a given system will vary from country to country. As Ageling explains, the use of low-carbon nuclear power in France means that the KHS gas-powered technology is less attractive in that market on both environmental and economic grounds. It is significant that, to date, installations by the contract engineers of the shrink system include three machines at one major UK brewer, as well as deliveries to Germany and Austria - all countries with relatively high electricity costs. The contract engineers are also responsible for the pro active and re active maintenance of the shrink wrappers which are installed in the UK.

Read the full article at packagingnews.co.uk