Best-In-Class Egg Processing in the Baltics

In 2012, a new business column was stamped out of the ground by the Viciunai Group, a company among the largest producers of fish products in the European region. Since then, the Groward Group rapidly grew into one of the most significant players in the Baltic egg industry.

Problem with existing equipment

“With our existing liquid egg processing plant, we ran into several issues. Low product quality, high production cost, high maintenance cost, cross-contamination issues, and much more. Those had to be eliminated to produce and sell high-quality products for fair prices to our customers”, explains Tomas Rumelaitis.

Therefore, the company began to look out for alternative suppliers of liquid egg processing equipment and found a partner in SANOVO. “We got good recommendations from other egg companies about SANOVO equipment. The service level, know-how, and staff competence were the key factors for choosing them. Also, SANOVO was already experienced in changing technology from our previous supplier”, says Tomas Rumelaitis.

SANOVO egg pasteurizer in an egg processing plant.

A success story in difficult times

By the end of 2019, Groward and SANOVO started on a revamping project of the existing, only 4-year-old liquid egg processing plant. The overall focus was to turn the plant into a state-of-the-art operation facility, providing full automation, high flexibility, and high hygienic production standards.

The first part of the new solution focused on increasing product quality. So, a fully automated SANOVO Pasteurizer with a capacity of 6,000l/h was installed. The pasteurizer is specifically configured to produce many different innovative egg products, from extended shelf life products to products with high viscosity, every liquid egg can be handled. The long running time and efficient CIP keep production costs low.

The second part of the revamping project contained the supply of 1 brand new CIP system and the revamping of an existing one, to comply with Growards high hygienic production standards. SANOVO’s CIP solution SANOMAXI is a perfectly balanced solution of cleaning efficiency, energy savings, and water consumption.

The third part constituted the heart of the plant: the central SCADA Automation system. SCADA is the PLC of the plant, a PC-based supervision system for monitoring, process control, and registration of operational parameters. It controls the modern mix proof valves and the remaining liquid egg processing solutions supplied by SANOVO, as well as the other equipment, ensuring:

1. Production safety and no cross-contamination

2. Complete production control

3. Production reports and certifications

Equipped with the latest technology in liquid egg processing, Groward Group is now ready to produce high-quality products to its customers. Together, both companies went through a difficult time when COVID-19 hit the world but still managed to conduct commissioning and start-up of the plant despite all constraints of the situation.

New beginning with modernized plant

Starting with the target to decrease production cost and increase product quality, Groward Group sees significant advantages beyond just that.

“The new plant enables us to produce liquid egg products with a longer shelf life, increased production capacity, and most important a modern IT solution to control the equipment. It allows us to use data for higher efficiency, service, and other analytics needed to effectively run the factory, which will also create value for our customers” concludes Tomas Rumelaitis, who is satisfied with the new solution.

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Operators inspecting SANOVO pasteurization and CIP system at Groward Group facility.