Fyffes Group - Coventry
In February 2009, MTX Contracts Ltd successfully completed the installation of 36
No. MTX High Cube Banana Ripening Rooms, loading bay, packing areas and 2 chill
stores at the Fyffes Banana ripening facility in Coventry.
An expertly phased construction program and careful coordination between the core
project team allowed the client to successfully double their ripening capabilities
in just 36 weeks while maintaining all existing ripening and production commitments.
In early 2008, Fyffes Group Limited embarked on the project to enlarge and modernize
their existing Banana Ripening facility and awarded MTX the design, supply and installation
contract in May 2008. Upon completion of the initial construction phase of the project,
which included a 3750m2 extension to the existing facility and once all designs
had been finalised, MTX were able to start work on the installation and commissioning
of 36 No. 60 Pallet MTX Ripening Rooms. The construction program stipulated that
the rooms were "to be handed over to the client on a uniquely phased basis throughout
the construction period enabling the client to relinquish existing rooms for decommissioning
and removal" with the aim of reducing disruption to staff and daily production schedules.
Uniquely Phased Construction Program
The 1st phase of the construction program involved the installation of rooms 1-
16 in the newly extended part of the facility. These 16 rooms alone provided the
client with the same ripening capacity as the 40 rooms originally in operation at
the facility. MTX also installed a state of the art central chilled water plant,
which involved complex installation works across the entire facility.
The 2nd phase of the project provided the most significant challenges for MTX as
the old ripening rooms had to be decommissioned and removed alongside the main production
and packing area which remained in full operation throughout the entire construction
program. During this phase rooms 17-20 were completed and handed over to the client.
These completed rooms provided our client with a total of 20 No. fully commissioned
MTX Ripening Rooms after only 20 weeks after initial works commenced and increased
the facilities ripening capabilities from 960 to 1200.
During the 3rd phase MTX developed the temperature controlled loading bays and a
state of the art packing and production area. The final 16 rooms (Rooms 21-36) were
also installed and commissioned at this time.
The 4th and final phase of the project saw the installation of two large Melon and
Pineapple chilled cold rooms.
"Largest and most modern ripening facility in Europe"
The impressive new ripening facility has a state of the art Ripening Management
System (RMS), which allows secure remote access to the entire facility. This means
that the whole plant could be operated from the remotest of locations via the internet.
Furthermore MTX High Cube Rooms have been installed at the facility allowing it
to accommodate larger 54 x 18kg box pallets from containerised loads. This means
that the facility is able to accommodate 117,000 boxes (or over 2,100 tonnes) of
bananas at any one time making it the largest banana ripening facility in Europe.
Along with the above features, key aspects such as Unique Maintenance Access, user
friendly loading & unloading, unparalleled energy saving solutions and state of
the art Packing Machinery make this facility the most technologically advanced and
energy efficient ripening facility in the Europe.
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