Case Study
National Food Manufacturer Spill Cleanup
Quick Facts
INDUSTRY
Food Manufacturing
LOCATIONS ABSORBENT USED
Maintenance Shops and in Bulk Oils Department, Tractor-trailer lot
PRIMARY SPILLS
Vegetable oils, dressings, sauces, mayonnaises
SPILLFIX ABSORBENTS USEDS
Executive Summary
In the USA, food manufacturers around the country are encountering challenges with spills of cooking oils, dressings, sauces and more. For national food manufacturer Ventura Foods, SpillFix mitigated their challenges and made spill cleanup simple and effective.
The Challenges
- The previous absorbent product, a shredded paper material, was time-consuming. It required 1.5 hours to clean up a spill and still left a residue behind that had to be scrubbed.
- Waste disposal was large and costly, with 6 or 7 drums of oily rags and absorbent being paid to be disposed of.
- Workers unhappy with usability and results of the previous absorbent often complained about the work and time it took to use and get a slick-free clean.
The Solution
Implementing SpillFix Granular Absorbent in various forms, including bags and easily dispensable jars, to quickly stop spills and clean them up with no residue left behind. Ventura Foods made an initial order of SpillFix and hasn’t looked back.
The Results
Quick Overview
- Faster cleanup with no wait time
- Massive reduction in waste disposal
- Cost reduction of oily rags disposal from 7 drums to zero
- It just works where no other granular absorbent did.
Customer Experience
Operations Manger, Ventura Foods
Currently, we use SpillFix in the maintenance shops and in our Bulk Oils department – where the majority of spills occur. This is vegetable oil that comes in on railcars and we pump it into tanks. Sometimes we rotate it and/or add flavorings and repackage it. We sometimes will have lids that don’t seal, and when we flip the boxes to put them other pallets they sometimes let loose – and up to 35 lbs (or more) of oil can spill. Also, if there is a crash on the conveyor the oil finds its way to floor in those cases.
We generally place it on the floor and give it a couple minutes to soak up the spill. We then work it into the floor with a broom, wait a few minutes and scoop it up. No residue left behind to clean up. My maintenance crew also uses it sometimes after working on the machines to remove the oil on their hands.
I used to get complaints all the time about the previous product we used because it just wasn’t effective. I have now virtually eliminated a waste stream with the SpillFix and my staff LOVES using it. No one has asked for any other type of product since we began using it, and believe me, they would if they didn’t like it.
It has had a profound effect on cleanup around here. We have even used it a couple of times out in our tractor-trailer lot. We had a broken radiator and a blown oil line on a trailer that came to pick up a load. We used SpillFix to clean up the fluids and disposed of it properly, and there was no residue to our stormwater drains or anything. Stopped the spills in their tracks.
“Thanks to the re-usability of SpillFix, we only had to purchase 2 skids of the product back in October and haven’t had to purchase any additional yet.”
Operations Manager, Ventura Foods