Eddie Le Roux, hygienic pump specialist for Verder Pumps South Africa
The South African alcoholic beverages industry is brimming with opportunity.
Forecasts anticipate that revenue at home – generated solely by sales in local supermarkets and convenience – in the alcoholic beverages market segment will amount to $10,340.0m in 2024 and is expected to grow annually by 11.44% (CAGR 2024-2028).
This growth is spurred by an increased number of social drinkers and the trickling impact social trends will continue to have on changing consumer preferences. From demand for premium alcoholic drinks to artisanal gins, low-alcohol and craft beers, the market is deliciously full of locally made drinks to suit every taste.
With this positive outlook of future market growth, local producers are turning their attentions to rethinking and restructuring their plans from post-pandemic recovery of 24-months ago, where maintaining business continuity and sustainability in a far more competitive and changed-consumer market has become more the order of the day.
For mass, micro- and artisanal producers, this has placed a clean, lean and flexible production process at the heart of a successful operation.
Processes need to be reliable and repeatable to accommodate; perishable ingredients, storage, short-lead times for retail clients and, of course, maintain impeccable standards of hygiene throughout production processes to guarantee product quality and the signature taste of each product with every sip.
To produce high-quality products consistently, and reduce waste throughout the production process, requires machines and equipment that are 100% fit-for-purpose, all while allowing for optimum production performance.
So, at the heart of maintaining the highest hygiene standards across production lines lie the careful selection of equipment.And fit-for-purpose hygienic pumping solutions that have been designed and built to eliminate any risk of contaminants during production are necessary for producers who want to stay ahead of the variety trends.
For example, throughout the production process, there are many areas where hygienic pumps with a modular design can be integrated, allowing for streamlined disassembly, cleanability and reassembly.
With this in mind, the pumping solution should be selected based on specifications such as:
- Reduced product losses due to leaks or product damage because of how well the pumps seals
- Cleanability and the solutions ability to perform optimally while still handling the products with care and meeting today’s clean in place (CIP) and sterilisation in place (SIP) hygiene standards
- Cost effectiveness through proven operational efficiency
- Lower total cost of ownership (TCO), due to longer lifecycle of the pump and flexibility to replace ancillary equipment such as parts or pipes for example
- Ease of disassembly and reassembly for access for maintenance, as required
For producers looking to leverage local market disruption posed by shifting consumer trends and turn this into opportunities, processes must be reliable, repeatable and error-free.
And integrating the right equipment is critical to achieving this, sustainably. While the technical aspects of selecting the right pumping solutions for specific applications can be complex, it is an important purchase decision as continued and sustainable optimum production performance is dependent on the longevity of the equipment.
Producers, therefore, should look to a trusted and reputable brand that can offer not only a wide range of pumping solutions but solutions that are long-lasting, cost-effective and efficient – because they are 100% fit-for-purpose for the application.
