The spread of the Coronavirus around the globe has had a major impact on everyone’s day to day lives. Not only has the virus taken its toll from a health point of view but has posed major challenges to multiple different industries. As many businesses have been forced to make major changes to their operations to be able to continue or even forced to close for a time, other businesses are facing a significant increase in demand for products to help in the fight against Covid-19.
From the increase in production of personal protective equipment for front-line health workers to the rush to produce the chemicals needed for testing kits and the increase in food production to keep the supermarket shelves full after panic buying, in many areas, the rush is on to react quickly enough to keep up with the demand.
One of the most in demand products in the early phases of the outbreak was hand sanitizer which was not only in short supply for consumers but, more importantly, became a desperately needed resource in medical settings. Since hand sanitizer contains 70% denatured alcohol, a variety of different businesses have the capability to produce this product using a component ingredient they ordinarily use in the production of something else. Some chemical companies, perfume-manufacturers, cosmetics producers and distilleries managed to turn around their production to enable them to produce a new product.
German rupture disc manufacturer, REMBE GmbH Safety + Control is well used to being called into action at short notice when their customers require spare rupture discs urgently. Many different industrial processes harness pressure to achieve their outcome. In the event that there is an uncontrolled increase in pressure safety device such as a rupture disc can be used to protect the people and the process.
When a rupture disc bursts unexpectedly, production has to be halted until the disc can be replaced. For this reason, REMBE offers a Rush Order service which enables the manufacture of rupture discs within 24 hours in most cases. In order to fulfill their customer’s requirements, REMBE will rearrange their production schedules and operate extra working hours wherever possible to produce discs in accordance with their customer’s specifications and get their process back up and running as soon as possible.
Although the component ingredient may be the same and many pieces of existing equipment may be used, changing manufacturing capability from one product to another requires changing the process conditions which in turn requires a different safety solution to protect the process.
Specifically an international food manufacturer, whose usual production was spirits and ethanol, required new KUB clean rupture discs on a very short turnaround. Burst pressure, material and temperature requirements were all different from their usual customer specification so new discs were required but the KUB clean can be easily retrofitted into the existing tri-clamp connections and includes an integrated signalling device to monitor when the disc has burst without the need for a second installation point meaning that changes to the installation were minimal.
The KUB clean is uniquely designed to provide superior pressure relief for applications within industries where compliance with strict hygiene requirements is critical. Its smooth process face, leak-tight seal, cleanability and integrated signalling make the KUB clean an ideal solution for those operating in the biotech, pharmaceutical and food production industries.
Combined with the Rush Order Service, REMBE were able to design, specify and manufacture rupture discs in accordance with the new process conditions and get them out to the customer in time for the start-up of their new process.
This is just one way REMBE has responded to the Covid-19 crisis. Safety and the protection of people’s lives is REMBE’s business. With this in mind, they implemented early a number of safety measures for the protection and the security of their staff during this global pandemic and to ensure that, as an essential part of many industrial production processes, customers could still receive vital safety equipment when they needed it. As well as building up an even greater stock-holding of materials to ensure the supply chain was secure, the production facilities were isolated and distancing protocols applied throughout the business. The majority of office based staff began working from home and with these measures in place the business has been able to continue working on full power.
As the pandemic continues into the future REMBE will continue to adapt to be able to support its varied customer base to respond to their individual challenges. As the world focuses its attention on the search for a vaccine and development therapeutics to treat the disease and the residual long term effects for those who have recovered REMBE is expecting ever more requests from within the pharmaceutical and biotech industries and has put everything in place to be able support customers in this essential work.
