Tosca, a global leader in reusable packaging solutions and pooling, has launched an automated, cutting-edge washing centre in Dublin. Automation is the way of the future and crucial to achieving a smooth supply chain, minimising the challenges of hiring and maintaining the manual workforce in a very competitive market.
Tosca’s innovative washing facility can process 5,000 reusable plastic containers (RPCs) per hour, more than twice as many as the standard line can process. The state-of-art equipment allows for operations to be handled with hardly any human interference. With less than four people, the dirty foldable RPCs are loaded and stacked on a pallet on one end of the line; and unloaded fully clean, stacked, and ready to use on the other end without human manual labour. The food-safety benefits of reducing human touches on the wash line include reduced opportunities to introduce cross contamination and less sanitary risks.
Adrian Dale, Managing Director at Tosca in the UK and Ireland, declares: “Our new washing centre in Ireland reflects our dedication to solving some of the most critical matters that the food supply chain faces, such as labour shortages, food safety, and environmental impact. With this new facility, we are pioneering a fully automated centre to fulfil the needs of our partners in a sustainable manner."
The brand new 86,000 square foot facility was built with sustainability in mind. The smart warehouse includes solar panels, LED lighting, and sensors to save energy. It features a centrifugal dryer, and the machinery conserves water by recycling it throughout the washing process. When RPCs come out of the rinse process to go through a closing device, they have less than one gram of water on them
Mike Wasson, Chief Operations Officer at Tosca, comments: “The opening of this advanced washing centre in Ireland ensures our place on the leading edge of the industry and is future-proofing us to continue providing our partners the high-level service that they need to ensure their supply chain has available, clean RPCs.”