10 JUN 2009

GEA Process Engineering (Pty) Ltd, to improve its service to customers and to accommodate its growing project order book, has made some key additional appointments.

GEA Process Engineering (Pty) Ltd, which takes care of the process engineering part of GEA (Global Engineering Alliance) business in the southern part of Africa, has divisionalised, with new employees appointed to support the four key
areas:

  • Projects - turnkey projects, technology and capacity upgrade projects, and projects with a focus on product losses and energy savings.
  • Components - plate and tubular exchangers, pumps, valves, homogenisers, fittings, etc.
  • Units - plug & play skid-mounted units: pasteurisers, CIP systems, carbonators, in-line blenders and de-aerators.
  • After-sales service - planned maintenance control, spare part replacement, plant assessment, plate heat exchangers, lobe and centrifugal pumps.

GEA Process Engineering (Pty) Ltd says the re-skill will ensure focus on all the business units
and will ensure that an engineer will be assigned to a project throughout its
duration, from the initial discussions with the client, and be dedicated to the
project.

Late last year, GEA Process Engineering (Pty) Ltd opened its service centre in Midrand. Tuchenhagen currently offers 24 hour service in automation; it is now implementing a new system to offer all mechanical aspects following the principle of a service plan.

Key appointments

Key recent new appointments of importance to clients have been:

  • Ralph Wittkopp qualified as a brewmaster in Munich in 1994. He joined GEA Brewery Systems in 2000, where he was project engineer and manager for several brewery projects internationally, mainly in countries of the former Soviet Union. He is currently project manager for a greenfield brewery for non-alcoholic beer in Iran. Before working for Huppmann, Ralph was production manager for several microbreweries in Japan and the US. Ralph is now the overall responsible project manager for GEA Brewery Systems and Beverage projects.
  • Charmaine Bates has a BSc in Chemical Engineering. She worked for three years at African Products, becoming a process engineer. Then she joined APV as a senior process engineer in the brewery sector, followed by employment for Processed Plant Technology as a process engineer. Charmaine's key area isnow on GEA Ecoflex tubular and plate heat exchangers and flow components.
  • Johan le Roux passed his trade test as a mechanical fitter at Iscor in PretoriaWest. He had 15 years' experience in brewing at SAB Rosslyn, and worked for himself for a few years doing sand works; thereafter he joined APV as the service engineer; he is now workshop service manager at GEA Process Engineering (Pty) Ltd
  • Charmaine Mohabir has extensive experience in sales of components and spares, having worked for APV for the past 14 years; she has now joined GEA Process Engineering (Pty) Ltd as stores manager.
  • Jörg Böttcher studied process engineering in Germany before he joined GEA Process Engineering (Pty) Ltd in 1995 as a junior process engineer, where his responsibilities grew into Tuchenhagen project management for the Brewery & Beverage, Dairy, Food and Juice industries. In 1999 Jürg returned to Germany where he used his skills in the automotive industry until 2005, when he returned to GEA as project manager for GEA Brewery Systems.

Service and projects

GEA Process Engineering (Pty) Ltd's uniqueness lies in its ability to offer turnkey projects because
of its extensive expertise, and its subsidiaries across the range of processing
for beer, beverages, dairy, food and juices.
GEA Process Engineering (Pty) Ltd  is able to integrate systems from the worldwide GEA Technology Centres, such as: GEA Niro, GEA Wiegand, GEA Colby Powder Systems, GEA
Filtration, GEA Brewery Systems, GEA TDS, GEA Ecoflex, GEA Avalon, GEA Levati, GEA Albro and GEA Diessel. For instance:

  • In brewing, TGEA Brewery Systems providesall engineering, components and equipment - from milling to cellars, etc,and volume control (before packaging). This includes, for instance, the installation of mashing, CIP stations, energy recovery, fermentation and conditioning, blending and carbonation, etc.
  • In beverages, likewise complete turnkey plants are installed - from the sugar reception onwards, integrating in-line blenders, sugar dissolvers and syrup rooms.
  • In dairy also, complete turnkey plants are installed, from raw milk reception to CIP, using the newest technology on, for instance, UHT products, milk powders, yoghurt production and filtration on whey etc.