GELITA invests in new facilities

GELITA, one of the world's leading providers of collagens and proteins, invested 10.4 million euros in 2016 in their Eberbach plant for the construction of ultra-modern facilities. Four new washing drums, an extension of the leaf drying capacity, a new robot, and a fully automatic acid dilution plant will help to further optimize production processes from an ecological and economic viewpoint in the future.

In 2016, GELITA invested 10.4 million euros in their Eberbach plant in modern equipment to make production even more efficient. "We are committed to Germany as a production location and particularly to our main plant in Eberbach, which we are continually enhancing with modernization measures. This enables us to improve existing processes to keep up with the market growth, while reducing the environmental impact at the same time", says Dr Franz Josef Konert, CEO of GELITA AG.

Reinforcing the leading position

The four ultra-modern washers in Eberbach, each with a capacity of twelve tons, pre-treat and wash cattle hides. The facilities replaced twelve old machines that were in service for almost 50 years.

With the expansion of the leaf dryer, GELITA is responding to the growing worldwide demand for leaf gelatine in the world market. The facility consists of over 4,000 square meters of stainless steel with a length of 115 meters and a weight of 78 tonnes. "We want to further strengthen our leading position in existing markets and tap into new markets. We are supported in this goal by our ultra-modern facilities", explains Ulrich Braun, Plant Manager at GELITA in Eberbach.

Producing more efficiently

The Eberbach plant has also been working with a new robot since August. The machine stacks filled sacks of gelatine on pallets - and does so considerably more efficiently than its predecessor.

Another acquisition in Eberbach is a fully automated system for the dilution of concentrated sulfuric acid. The dilution process causes a great deal of heat to be released, which strongly heats up the acid. With the new plant, the heat is removed immediately, so the dilute acid can be used directly. This makes it possible to adapt the raw material for the production of gelatine and collagen peptides to the conditions of its processing.