In Belgium, the Sambre and Meuse Hospital, born from the administrative merger in 2012 of the Meuse Hospital in Namur and the Val de Sambre Hospital in Auvelais (Sambreville), had to modernize the dishwashing area at the Auvelais site. The contract was for the supply of a conveyor washing tunnel, a double hood dishwasher and a tailor-made system for sorting, storing and transporting dishes.
SABEMAF, importer for more than 70 years of Meiko washing solutions for Belgium, is a family business almost a century old (1925) managed since 2001 by Vincent LUYKCX.
VALIDEX, French designer of transport solutions for dishes present in 72 countries is a long-standing partner of SABEMAF.
Faced with various issues including ergonomics in the operations of sorting dishes, working time, delayed washing, space and hygiene, the hospital wanted to improve the efficiency of its washing and the challenge was entrusted to SABEMAF.
Working comfort : the employees clear the trolleys from the 303 hospital beds, which is not very ergonomic and very uncomfortable if the parts are placed directly on the washing tunnel conveyor and that employees must also deal with an equivalent number of meal trays from the staff canteen.
Working time : the hospital seeks to minimize the working time devoted to dishwashing operations in order to free up labor for other tasks.
Delayed washing : in order to optimize the working time and the operating time of the washing equipment, the dishes are washed later, which requires having a significant number of storage trolleys and free space.
Space : the washing area is cramped and dishes are washed either in the conveyor machine for midday and evening services and in the other machine for morning service. It is not possible to install in such a small space a conveyor assembly allowing to transport to the two machines separately.
Hygiene : in order to perfect the washing of the floors, it seems desirable that the sorting equipment be removable.
Faced with the complexity of the situation, Vincent BODSON, in charge for SABEMAF of the healthcare sector in the Waloon region of the country, called on VALIDEX’s export sales director, Patrick VAJDA.
VALIDEX’s BIRD (Industrialization Research and Development Office ) researched and designed a « mobile motorized sorting station » solution to meet all the needs of the end user.
VALIDEX solution : a set of sorting, storage, transport of racks which allows a comfortable sorting of dishes, storage of clean racks, storage of dirty dishes before washing, the possibility of hanging it on one or the other of the dishwasher, to easily move the whole and therefore to perfectly clean the floor of the sorting area, an even more topical subject.
The customer is satisfied : saving 2 hours of labour per day = fast payback ; employees are satisfied = the work is comfortable.
« The solution has improved the quality and working comfort of the washing area workers. We treat 3 times 250 meals per day for patients and 80 to 100 for staff : we have gained a total of 4 hours of labor per day which we use elsewhere to improve the functioning of the kitchen ».
Mr Victor FENA, director of the catering at Val de Sambre Hospital in Auvelais
