Aflex Hose increases reliability and reduces lifetime costs in production of popular Brazilian national cheese

A national dairy company in Brazil is now using Aflex Pharmaline N hoses in their production of a classic national cheese. The hoses produced by Aflex Hose, part of Watson-Marlow Fluid Technology Solutions, are being used in the key milk producing region of Minas Gerais to cut lifetime costs and increase reliability of ‘requijao’ production. ‘Requijao’ is a spreadable variation on cream cheese typically eaten with bread or toast, also used as an ingredient in some traditional dishes. Due to its soft texture, the cream cheese is pumped through filling nozzles into 250ml glass jars at the dairy’s filling area.

Until recently, the filling process was utilising an established brand of food-grade EPDM rubber hose assemblies for this filling line. However, the dynamic, rapid and repetitive filling action, together with daily clean-in-place (CIP), resulted in these selected hose assemblies not standing up to the rigors of the application. Typically, the customer commented that these hoses were rupturing internally, particularly in the areas where the end-fittings were crimped into the hoses. This meant that hose assembly changeouts were required at four to six month intervals. These frequent changeouts resulted in additional costs not only associated with the direct costs of  replacing the hoses, but also with an increase in associated production stoppages, maintenance duties and man-hours.

In such a cost-sensitive industry, overall product value was a key factor in the customer’s decision making. Raphael Zaupa, the WMFTS Brazil Sales Engineer who supports this client, suggested that the customer install Aflex FDA certified Pharmaline N hose, which has a fully CIP resistant PTFE internal liner. The Aflex hose offers more than 15 times the flex-life of competitor hose products and a much greater resistance to kinking. These attributes were extremely important in the customer’s decision to change their hose selection. The customer also benefits from Aflex’s industry leading 24 month manufacturer’s warranty as standard, which backs up the product quality and gives customers a reliability and peace of mind for a minimum of two years.

In fact, the customer admitted that the Aflex product’s upfront price was higher than the competitor proposal; however once he understood the lifetime cost savings and proposed value of a longer-lasting product, he realised that within 18 months he would be saving money on direct hose costs alone (due to the previous hoses’ required replacement frequency). Once indirect costs such as maintenance and production stoppages are also considered, the Aflex solution is a higher quality, more reliable, longer lasting and significantly better value product choice.

PTFE flexible hoses for Food and Beverage