Consistency counts for hygiene management at Refresco

High ambitions, close collaboration and site surveys

An effective, consistent and reliable hygiene regimen is crucial for the quality of Refresco products and services – as well as for customers’ willingness to rely on Refresco quality management and food safety capabilities. The company’s quality assurance experts are constantly in search of the best possible solutions.

Working closely with the technical team at Refresco, Vikan experts carried out comprehensive site surveys in each of the four Refresco bottling plants in Germany, aimed at identifying how to improve their current capabilities with cleaning equipment and procedures that are both food contact-compliant and cost-effective.

They also had to meet all the challenges encountered in operating environments that are extremely hygiene-sensitive, and where standards are getting steadily more stringent.

Read more about site surveys

Colour coding brings big benefits

According to Refresco manufacturing director Clemens Müller, there are significant benefits to be gained when multiple Refresco plants use the same equipment and colour coding system for the hygienic cleaning tools they are using so intensively. It makes it easier to maintain high standards, by enabling supervisors and staff at the different plants to cross-reference and compare their hygiene management procedures and work out how best to tackle the kinds of cleaning challenges they most often encounter. It’s also easier to use fewer cleaning tools to do a better job, and to maintain the same high hygiene standards.

“We’ve been able to improve Refresco’s overall hygiene management capabilities as well as making it easier for our cleaning staff to do their jobs quickly and effectively – and we save money at the same time,” explains Clemens Müller.

For hygiene-driven companies eager to achieve and/or keep a commercial edge amid fierce market competition, the ability to accumulate and transfer specialist knowledge about how to maintain the strictest hygiene standards can be crucial.

“With this across-the-board use of colour-coded hygienic cleaning tools, we’ve certainly achieved that here,” declares Müller.