The hygienic design implies benefits for the companies realizing new products in the food, pharma, chemical and cosmetic fields: quality improvement of the final product, reduced production times, decrease of costs.
The hygienic EiQ Industrial line of enclosures is concerned by all these advantages.
This topic is more than actual considering the emergency Covid-19 but, in general, in the last years the awareness of the key role of the hygienic design, has been considerably growing in all the sectors.
Actually in spite of the reference field (food, pharma, chemical, cosmetic) a design and a construction of machines considering the most recent indications for cleanness implies real benefits: reduction of production time and cost saving.
We would like to speak about the Hygienic Design advantages and the relevant related regulations, information which can be useful for manufacturing companies or for final users.
By “Hygienic Design” (“HD”), we intend equipment and plants designed and manufactured according to the hygiene requirements determined by the responsible organization through guidelines, rules and directives becoming more and more stringent, to provide the highest standards.
The first Machinery Directive in Europe of 1989 (89/392/EEC, article 2) established:
• the requirements according to which an equipment must be designed and constructed to protect the operator safety;
• the minimum mandatory requirements for a machine as regards to hygiene considering that the CE marking on the machine is a declaration of conformity with obligations under the law.
The use of stainless steel, material widely used in the industrial field because it facilitates the cleaning operations, is the main rule for the HD, but it is a matter of only one among many aspects to be considered.
Guidelines suggest eliminating or reducing to the minimum all gaps and not useful zones on equipment. In such a way, it is meant to avoid that waste deriving from different working operations or dirt can deposit because these zones can hardly be cleaned or sanitized and this can allow the bacterial proliferation.
In Europe, the EHEDG (European Hygienic Engineering and Design Group) an influential organization of producers of equipment in the food industries, has published 42 documents including practical standard tests for the evaluation of cleanliness, sanitation and resistance to bacteria of the food equipment.
In the American market instead, other indications have been given by 3-A Sanitary Standards a no-profit organization promoting the HD in the food sector.
In both cases it is clear that a design and a construction of plants according to the HD criteria, represent a real business opportunity because it can brings these concrete advantages:
• improvement of the quality product as it guarantees the customer high hygiene standards during all production steps;
• saving time for all cleaning and sanitizing operations which results in an increased availability of plants for the production and therefore in a production cost optimization;
• cost reduction for cleaning operations.
In order to benefit from the HD advantages, the design must concern the plant in all its parts, from components and covers, to the electric panels.
Considering all these criteria and advantages, EiQ Industrial, manufacturer of electrical cabinets in stainless steel, in cooperation with EHEDG and 3-A, has developed its own HD solution.
In particular, the company proposes a complete range of enclosures meeting all hygienic requirements, which includes junction boxes, push-button boxes, and enclosures with hinged door, compact cabinets, modular cabinets and protective window.
Particular attention has been paid to hinges,that are external because of many construction advantages and of a better robustness and hygiene. Thanks to a long engineering study, EiQ hinge has been patented and in June 2019 certified by EHEDG.
