"BY OPTING FOR MEIKO'S LATEST SERIES OF BELT CONVEYOR MACHINES THE HOSPITAL SUCCEEDED IN REDUCING ITS CONSUMPTION OF RESOURCES BY AT LEAST ONE THIRD."
With almost 1,600 beds and 5,500 employees, Innsbruck University Hospital boasts impressive figures:
- Average no. of meals served a day: 5500
- Average no. of food transport trolleys cleaned per hour: 35
- Average no. of items washed per day: approx. 40,000
Herbert Hofer, Head of Kitchen Purchasing and Manager of the wash-up area, adds that the hospital was one of the first large-scale kitchens in Austria to implement a cook/chill system utilizing ward level regeneration. Meals are delivered using 100 tray trolleys, which arrive back at the wash-up area twice a day. According to Hofer his team has to wash up some 40,000 items of crockery, cutlery etc., every day, as well as cleaning the trolleys themselves.
In 2010, MEIKO supplied six heavy-duty machines for the renovation of the main basement dishwashing area. These included an automatic trolley unloading system, trolley washer and three M-iQ belt conveyor dishwashers.
By opting for MEIKO's latest series of belt conveyor machines the hospital succeeded in reducing its consumption of resources by at least one third, which translates into cost savings of €100,000 a year over the previous system.
Also installed was a WasteStar vacuum food waste system; the hospital supplies a biogas plant with 14 cubic metres of wet waste a week, enough to meet the energy requirements of 100 four-person households.
