Fyffes Banana Ripening Facility - Coventry
In February 2009, MTX Contracts Ltd successfully completed the installation of
36 No. x 60 Pallet 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 modernise
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 3750m˛ 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 pallets (or 51,840 to 64,800 boxes).
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 chill stores.
“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.
For further information on our fruit and banana ripening rooms, visit www.RipeningRooms.com.
Case studies, technical specifications and an interactive Ripening Room!
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