2017 RETA Breeze Sept-Oct

WHY VITAL UTILITIES ARE ... WELL ... VITAL

I always wonder why refrigeration is given the importance it is often shown. Some facilities treat refrigeration as an inconvenience. Others treat it as a curse. I prefer to think of refrigeration as the catalyst for profit. “Profit? Utilities costs money, we sell ice cream not ammonia,” you say. While that may be true, let’s think about that for a moment. To sell ice cream, we have several components. The costs can be broken down into the following: • Ingredients • Direct labor (the labor needed to make ice cream) • Physical structures (the structure and equipment needed to make ice cream) These are the costs you would have if you were making ice cream in your garage. Well these and some utility costs such as electricity. But if you were to break down your costs, you would find that these are a small portion of the costs of a modern industrial ice cream facility. The additional costs? • Indirect labor (the labor needed to support the people who make ice cream, the people who sell the ice cream, and the people who move things around) • More equipment (to clean the processing equipment, fork trucks, offices, bathrooms, etc…)

• More structures to house the ancillary equipment.

But at this point, you still would have little more than a syrupy sweet goo. Refrigeration makes ice cream ...well...ice cream. Otherwise

you have ice creammix. Ever want to sit down with a big glass of ice creammix on a hot day? To be totally honest, without refrigeration the milk would spoil before arriving at the facility. It all starts with refrigeration. Suppose we have a nice new shiny ice cream facility, but no milk. As long as we have refrigeration we can make slushes or popsicles. What about water and steam? Without them, there is no CIP, no sanitizer stations, no evaporative cooling of the condensers. What about electricity? Imagine mixing all of the ice cream by hand, in the dark, and without air conditioning. Not a lot of fun. How long do you think your workers would work under these conditions? Don’t forget about OSHA, they may have something to say about the working conditions. Some industries predict that 20% of the cost of their products are direct utility costs.

So how important do you believe utilities to be now? A 10% increase in utility costs results in a 2% increase in product costs. How long will your company maintain their market share if your competitors have a 2% advantage? Keeping utilities operating at peak efficiency is not merely important, it is vital! I remember a story about an engineer at a frozen dessert facility. He submitted a much needed utilities project budget. His boss told him they wouldn’t spend the money. The engineer looked at his boss and said, “We better change the slogan, because we won’t be freezing anything.” Utilities are the backbone of everything we do. Electricity, water, and refrigeration. So, the next time you’re annoyed by the resources (people, time, money) taken by VITAL utilities. Remember you won’t be in business very long without them.

8 RETA.com