Changing the Business Landscape with Fully Automated Egg Processing

The launch of OVO Egypt’s new fully automated egg processing facility in Cairo will change the business landscape in Egypt, the Middle East, and North Africa.

Background

Powered by SANOVO technology inside, this young liquid egg processing company has already set a new benchmark in the market with its world-class factory infrastructure, latest technology, and strong brand operations.

The company’s strategy is focused on extending its product portfolio to serve the needs of food manufactures as well as hotels and the retail sectors in the region. With the right tools and equipment, high quality and customized egg products with long shelf life are produced and supplied without compromising on the natural, functional properties of an egg.

Exploiting the Egyptian, Middle Eastern, and African egg market potential

OVO Egypt went through an extensive process from idea development, over market evaluation, to investment case development and capital funding. After reviewing the situation, the investment companies behind OVO Egypt saw the chance of opening a new business and setting a new benchmark. “With the latest technology and resources, we aim to penetrate the market with customized products that cater to each customer’s specific requirements and business needs, while meeting the international standards” says Mohamed Fares, OVO Egypt Chairman and CEO.

A critical path to their success was the selection of the right supplier for technology & equipment. Several known suppliers were evaluated and after thorough technical comparison, SANOVO clearly convinced the investors. “We saw that the chemistry between our teams, the partnership attitude and the expertise were the key success factors of this project” explains Mohamed Fares.

Building a liquid egg processing business from the ground up

Right after the contract was signed, the story between OVO Egypt and SANOVO begun. From manufacturing over shipping to installation: in a joint effort, a factory was designed to process 560,000 eggs per eight-hour shift, resulting in around 29 tons of liquid egg produced as whole egg, egg yolk, egg white, and other customized liquid egg products.

With an OptiBreaker 6 Plus line, the separation of liquid egg achieves a high yield, an incomparable egg white quality, and an extraordinary hygienic level through automated CIP (cleaning-in-place). From there, the different liquids (yolk, albumen, whole egg) flow into three tanks, each with a capacity of 12,000L to prepare the high-quality egg products.

Modern mix proof valves, controlled by the central SCADA system, administer the distribution of the liquid egg from the tanks and cleaning of the pipes, avoiding cross-contamination of the valuable products and providing detailed production reports.

The design of the pasteurization plant gives full flexibility and handles all kinds of egg products, from high viscosity liquids to extended-shelf-life liquids. Due to the full automation, the plant achieves a long running time at the lowest possible CIP costs.

When the product comes from the pasteurization plant it is ready for shipment. The final liquid is filled by a robotic arm into aseptic bags in boxes and portable containers in a highly automated, hygienic procedure.

Kick-off for production

After commissioning, training of the facility staff, initial operation, and expert support for fine-tuning and machine adjustments, Egypt’s most modern liquid egg processing business is ready to serve its customers – and already making new plans. “Our plan is to dedicate 50% of our capacity to feed our egg powder dryer planned for phase two” says Mohamed Fares.

Mr. Fares emphasizes the importance of the market dynamics and continues: “It is the nature of this business, that R&D and food engineering experience, and technology specialists are extremely important parameters in this business. In countries like Egypt, and many others, this is highly needed to differentiate us from our competition”.

As Mr. Fares highlighted in the beginning, good chemistry and partnership attitude is vital for business success. We value the close relationship with OVO Egypt that is based on mutual trust and respect which turned this project into the success story that it is today.

Check out OVO Egypt’s website