Brine cock overhaul
in the cheese factory
in Edewecht

24 hours a day, 7 days a week and in production since 2007. With the exception of a few planned shutdown days for inspection and maintenance, the overhead crane above the brine bath in the cheese factory has mostly been in continuous operation during production. On the advice of Bijlsma, in order to guarantee the continuity of the installation, the hoisting installation was completely overhauled at the beginning of this year.

The cheese factory in Edewecht is part of DMK (Deutsches Milchkontor GmbH). With more than 20 locations inside and outside Germany, the DMK GROUP is Germany's largest dairy group. In total, approximately 7,700 employees work for the company.

The project plan

At the beginning of 2019, the first steps towards the overhaul of the brine mixer have already begun. During the annual inspection, the recording was made for the replacement or overhaul of the critical parts.

Logically, an overhaul in this form cannot be carried out just like that. In consultation with DMK, it was decided to do this during a planned production stop of one week.

The overhaul of the plant consisted of two projects.

Project 1; change radblocks, axle and cat engine.

Project 2Replace drive and wear parts for hoist.

In preparation, the driveline was tested in the Bijlsma workshop. This meant that experience could immediately be gained with the special alignment set needed for aligning the driveline on site.

Using a special alignment kit, the entire drive line of the hoist was adjusted.

The result

Project coordinator Jaap van Pijkeren was involved in the project from the beginning. "A nice job with considerable time pressure in the execution, so good preparation was essential. In order to guarantee the lead time, we split the project team into two teams. The shifts could alternate so that we could work on the installation almost 24 hours a day. It was exciting for a while, but the job was done, top teamwork!

"A nice job with considerable time pressure in the execution so good preparation was essential."

Jaap van Pijkeren (Project coordinator: DMK)