Customer Cases

Introduction Food and beverage manufacturing has some of the most demanding requirements for process cooling equipment of any industry. Cooling systems in food plants must not only deliver precise temperature control for product quality — they must also satisfy food safety regulations, hygiene standards, and third-party audit requirements including HACCP, FSSC 22000, and EU Food Hygiene Regulations. A cooling system failure in a dairy processing plant is not just a production problem; it can trigger a product recall affecting thousands of consumers. This case study covers how a Vietnamese dairy products manufacturer resolved chronic cooling system problems in their yogurt and fermented milk production lines by replacing an aging and hygiene-inadequate cooling system with a ZILLION industrial water-cooled chiller and cooling tower solution. The plant achieved Food Safety Certification renewal without non-conformities for the first time in three years, reduced cooling-related product losses by 94%, and increased production throughput by 18%. The Challenge: Outdated Cooling Infrastructure Threatening Food Safety Certification Background The customer operates a dairy processing facility in Binh Duong Province, Vietnam, producing pasteurized yogurt, fermented milk drinks, and cheese products for the domestic Vietnamese market and for export to Cambodia and Laos. Their cooling demand is concentrated in two areas: Fermentation cooling: Yogurt and fermented milk require precise temperature control at 38-42 degC during the fermentation phase, maintained for 4-6 hours. Temperature deviation of more than 2 degC during fermentation causes off-flavors and incorrect texture. Cold chain pre-cooling: Finished yogurt pots are rapidly cooled from 38 degC to below 8 degC within 90 minutes to prevent over-fermentation in the package. The existing cooling system consisted of two aging ammonia-based refrigeration plant (the plant's original system, installed 15 years prior) serving both the cold storage and the production lines — a configuration that created cross-contamination risks and operational inflexibility. Problem 1: Ammonia System Approaching End-of-Life with No Budget for Replacement Ammonia (R717) refrigeration systems are highly efficient but require specialized maintenance expertise and regular safety monitoring. The plant's ammonia system was 15 years old with corroded piping in several sections, and a recent audit revealed that the system's leak detection equipment was no longer compliant with Vietnam's updated industrial refrigeration safety regulations (QCVN 02:2020/BCT). Estimated replacement cost for a comparable ammonia system: VND 4.2 billion (USD 170,000). Management was unwilling to commit this level of capital to a 15-year-old ammonia technology when modern HFC-based systems offered better energy efficiency and lower maintenance complexity. However, continuing to operate a non-compliant ammonia system posed regulatory and food safet...

Introduction Automotive interior and exterior plastic components — dashboards, door panels, headlamp lenses, bumper fascias, and climate control housings — are manufactured at volumes that make even small per-part defect rates financially significant. A Tier 1 automotive supplier producing 2 million parts per year with a 2% scrap rate is discarding 40,000 parts annually — at material, energy, and cycle time cost — before the part ever reaches the assembly line. Cooling system performance is the dominant variable in automotive plastic injection molding productivity. Mold temperature directly controls cycle time — every degree of additional mold temperature allows faster filling, shorter pack time, and earlier ejection. But automotive grades of PP-EPDM (TPO), ABS, and PC/ABS also require careful temperature uniformity to achieve the surface appearance standards demanded by OEM customers. This case study covers how a Thai automotive interior components supplier solved a chronic cycle time and quality problem by redesigning their cooling system around a ZILLION industrial water-cooled chiller and cooling tower installation, ultimately reducing cycle time from 52 seconds to 38 seconds — a 27% productivity improvement — while simultaneously reducing defect rate from 3.1% to 0.6%. The Challenge: Slow Cycle Time and High Scrap in Automotive PP-EPDM Molding Background The customer operates a Tier 1 automotive interior components plant in the Eastern Seaboard Industrial Zone of Thailand, supplying instrument panels, door panels, and glove box assemblies to three automotive OEMs. Their main production line runs a 650-ton injection press molding glass-filled PP-EPDM (PP-EPDM-T20) for instrument panel substrates at a nominal cycle time of 45 seconds. Despite a relatively modern press, the plant was averaging 52-second effective cycle times and experiencing a defect rate of 3.1% — primarily warp and sink marks on parts exceeding 600mm in length. The root cause investigation pointed consistently to the cooling system. Problem 1: Mold Temperature Too Low for Glass-Filled PP-EPDM The plant had been operating the mold at 35 degC mold surface temperature — a holdover from their previous material (unfilled PP) which processed well at low mold temperatures. However, glass-filled PP-EPDM behaves very differently: the high filler content creates significant differential shrinkage between the glass-rich skin layer and the core, and low mold temperature locks in this differential before the part has fully packed. The result is warp — particularly in large, flat sections of the instrument panel substrate. The mold design allowed surface temperatures of up to 65 degC at the gate area and 50 degC at the part edges — but the existing air-cooled chiller could only maintain 35-38 degC consistently during Thailand's hot season (ambient temperatures 34-38 degC in the plant). Problem 2: Cooling Channel Scale Restri...

Introduction Pharmaceutical plastic components are among the most tightly regulated products in manufacturing. Prefilled syringes, medication bottles, IV containers, blister pack trays, and diagnostic test housings must meet exacting standards for dimensional accuracy, surface integrity, and material purity. Any deviation in the injection molding process — including a 2-3 degree variation in mold temperature — can cause defects that render an entire batch non-compliant with pharmacopeial standards. This case study documents how a German pharmaceutical packaging manufacturer resolved a recurring defect problem in prefilled syringe body molding by replacing their aging air-cooled chiller with a ZILLION ZL-15WS water-cooled industrial chiller integrated with a closed-loop cooling tower system. Over 18 months of operation, the plant achieved zero defect batches due to cooling variability, reduced scrap rate from 8.3% to 1.1%, and increased line output by 22% due to eliminated cooling-related shutdowns. The Challenge: Recurring Defects in Pharmaceutical Syringe Molding Background The customer operates a pharmaceutical contract manufacturing facility in Bavaria, Germany, producing approximately 45 million prefilled syringe bodies per year for three major pharmaceutical companies. Their injection molding cell consisted of a 280-ton injection press molding cyclic olefin copolymer (COC) syringe bodies at a cycle time of 8.5 seconds. The facility had used a 12-year-old 12 kW air-cooled chiller to supply cooling to the mold's temperature control unit (MTC). While the chiller was nominally adequate for the application's cooling requirements, the plant experienced three recurring quality problems: Problem 1: Mold Temperature Fluctuation Causing Dimensional Non-Conformance The COC material used for pharmaceutical syringes has a narrow processing window. The required mold surface temperature is 38-42 degC with a tolerance of plus/minus 1 degC. The aging air-cooled chiller showed evaporator temperature swings of up to 4 degC over the course of a production shift — particularly during summer months when ambient temperatures in the plant room exceeded 32 degC. The dimensional consequence: syringe bodies molded during afternoon shifts showed wall thickness variation of up to 0.08 mm, compared to the 0.02 mm specification. This caused intermittent failures at the client's fill-finish quality control stations, resulting in batch rejections and costly documentation cycles under EU GMP requirements. Problem 2: Microbial Contamination from Condensate in Air-Cooled Condenser The air-cooled condenser's coil fins accumulated dust, pollen, and moisture over the production season. Despite quarterly cleaning schedules, the condenser became a site for microbial growth including Pseudomonas species — a serious concern in pharmaceutical environments. Routine environmental monitoring detected elevated airborne bacteria counts in the molding area during sum...

Brazilian Injection Molding Factory Case Study: 44% Energy Savings with ZILLION Hopper Dryer and Crusher System Location: Sao Paulo State, Brazil | Industry: Plastic Injection Molding for Consumer Packaging | Equipment Upgraded: Industrial Hopper Dryer, Heavy Duty Plastic Crusher, Vacuum Autoloader The Background A medium-sized injection molding facility located in the industrial corridor of Sao Paulo State — Brazil's largest manufacturing hub — operates 22 injection molding machines ranging from 80 tons to 850 tons clamping force. The factory employs 280 workers across two production shifts and produces plastic packaging components for the food and beverage, personal care, and household products industries. Founded in 2008, the company has grown steadily to become one of approximately 3,500 injection molding companies operating in Brazil's $28 billion plastics processing industry. By early 2023, the factory faced a combination of cost pressures that were compressing margins across the Brazilian plastics sector: rising electricity costs driven by the worst drought in decades affecting Brazil's hydroelectric generation capacity, increasing competition from imported finished packaging products entering Brazil at aggressive price points, and a 23% devaluation of the Brazilian Real against the US dollar that was driving up the cost of imported raw materials and equipment. The Challenges A comprehensive operational and financial review conducted in April 2023 identified three cost centers that together represented the most significant opportunities for margin recovery: 1. Inefficient Drying System Consuming Excessive Energy The factory's 14 smaller injection molding machines (80-350 tons) were equipped with individual desiccant hopper dryers that had been installed when the machines were originally commissioned — in some cases over 12 years ago. These legacy dryers operated on fixed heating cycles regardless of the actual moisture content of the material being processed, resulting in significant energy waste. Testing with a moisture analyzer revealed that the dryers were consuming an average of 35% more energy than was necessary for the material grades in regular production. Brazil's industrial electricity tariffs — among the highest in Latin America at approximately BRL 0.85 per kWh (~$0.17 USD) following the 2022-2023 drought-driven tariff increases — meant that the excess energy consumption of the aging dryers was directly translating to a measurable cost disadvantage. The combined energy consumption of all hopper dryers was averaging 127 kW during production, representing a monthly electricity cost of approximately BRL 81,500 ($16,300 USD). 2. Manual Material Handling Creating Quality and Safety Risks The factory used a combination of manual bag-fed material loading and a central pneumatic conveying system for its larger machines. The manual feeding process — in which operators transported 25 kg bags of virgin r...

Saudi Arabian Plastic Manufacturing Factory Case Study: Cooling Tower Retrofit Achieves 38% Energy Savings in 50-Degree Climate Location: Jeddah Industrial City, Saudi Arabia | Industry: PET Bottle Recycling & Plastic Packaging Manufacturing | Equipment Retrofitted: Industrial Cooling Tower, Plastic Crusher The Background A mid-sized PET bottle recycling and plastic packaging manufacturing facility located in the Jeddah Industrial City — Saudi Arabia's principal manufacturing hub on the Red Sea coast — operates two-stage plastic processing lines producing recycled PET flakes and finished packaging film for the Saudi domestic market and export to neighboring Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries. With approximately 340 employees and a monthly production capacity of 580 tons of finished recycled plastic material, the factory is one of a growing number of enterprises in Saudi Arabia's industrial sector, which has been expanding rapidly under the Saudi Vision 2030 initiative to diversify the economy away from hydrocarbon dependency. The factory was established in 2019 and had doubled its production capacity by 2023. However, the expansion brought new operational challenges — most critically, the existing cooling infrastructure, originally sized for the facility's initial 280-ton-per-month capacity, was no longer adequate for the expanded production lines, and the management team faced escalating energy costs that were beginning to erode the competitive advantage of Saudi Arabia's relatively low industrial electricity tariffs compared to other regions. The Challenges An operational efficiency review conducted in August 2023 identified three interconnected problems that were constraining production and driving up costs: 1. Cooling System Failing in Extreme Summer Temperatures Jeddah's summer climate creates extreme conditions for industrial cooling systems. Ambient temperatures regularly exceed 45°C from June through September, and direct solar radiation on equipment rooftops can push surface temperatures above 60°C. The factory's existing cooling system — a once-through open cooling circuit using raw municipal water — was unable to maintain adequate cooling water temperatures during peak summer months. Process water temperatures reaching 35-38°C caused frequent overheating shutdowns on the extrusion lines, resulting in an average of 6-8 hours of lost production per week during the July-August period. Water consumption from the once-through cooling circuit also represented a significant and growing cost: the factory was consuming approximately 2,400 m³ of municipal water per month for cooling purposes alone, at a cost of SAR 18 per cubic meter — a monthly cooling water bill of approximately SAR 43,200 ($11,500 USD), subject to Saudi Arabia's tiered industrial water pricing that was projected to increase significantly in 2024. 2. PET Flake Quality Degradation from Inadequate Washing Cooling The...

German Injection Molding Factory Case Study: 42% Energy Cost Reduction with CE-Certified ZILLION Industrial Chiller Location: Bavaria, Germany | Industry: Plastic Injection Molding for Automotive Components | Equipment Upgraded: CE-Certified Scroll Industrial Chiller The Background A medium-sized injection molding facility located in the Bavarian Alps region of southern Germany employs 95 people and operates 14 injection molding machines ranging from 80 tons to 650 tons clamping force. Established in 2003, the factory specializes in producing precision plastic components for the automotive supply chain — supplying safety-critical interior and exterior trim parts to Tier 1 automotive manufacturers serving German OEM assembly plants in Munich, Stuttgart, and Ingolstadt. The factory holds ISO 9001:2015 certification and has been an approved supplier to its automotive customers for over 15 years. In 2022, as energy costs across Europe surged following geopolitical disruptions to natural gas supply, the factory's management launched an energy efficiency program targeting the largest electricity consumers on the production floor. The Challenges An energy audit conducted in September 2022 identified the factory's central cooling system as the single largest electricity consumer — accounting for 31% of total site electricity consumption. The audit revealed three specific problems: 1. Soviet-Era Chiller Consuming Disproportionate Energy The facility's primary cooling system consisted of a semi-hermetic reciprocating chiller installed in 2008, rated at 180 kW nominal cooling capacity. While the unit had been adequately sized for the factory's original production volume, 14 years of gradual capacity expansion had pushed the chiller to operate at 94% of design load continuously during production shifts. At this load level, the unit's EER had degraded to approximately 2.9 — significantly below modern scroll compressor technology, which routinely achieves EER values of 4.0-4.8 under equivalent conditions. With Germany's industrial electricity prices averaging €0.28 per kWh in 2022 (compared to €0.08-0.12 per kWh in Southeast Asia), the chiller's 65 kW average power draw represented an annual cooling cost of approximately €127,000 — a figure the management team identified as the single most addressable cost reduction opportunity on the facility. 2. Temperature Stability Affecting Dimensional Tolerances The factory's automotive customers impose strict dimensional tolerances on injection molded components — typically ±0.05 mm on critical functional features. Temperature fluctuation in the mold cooling circuit directly affects the rate of polymer solidification during the packing phase, which in turn affects final part dimensions. The legacy chiller's analog control system lacked the precision to maintain consistent cooling water temperature during rapid cycle time operation, contributing to a dimensional reject ...

Indonesian Packaging Manufacturer Case Study: Closed-Loop Recycling Solution Cuts Waste Disposal Costs by 60% Location: West Java, Indonesia | Industry: Plastic Packaging Manufacturing | Equipment Installed: Heavy Duty Plastic Crusher, Industrial Cooling Tower, Vacuum Autoloader The Background A mid-sized plastic packaging manufacturer located in the Cikarang industrial zone of West Java, Indonesia operates two automated blow molding lines producing HDPE containers and bottles for the food, beverage, and personal care industries. With a workforce of 180 employees and a monthly production output of approximately 420 tons of finished containers, the company supplies major consumer goods brands serving the Indonesian domestic market and export customers in Malaysia and the Philippines. The factory was established in 2016 and had expanded to its current scale by 2022. By mid-2024, management faced a dual challenge: increasing resin prices were squeezing material costs, and new Indonesian government regulations on industrial waste disposal were driving significant increases in landfill and hazardous waste handling fees. The Challenges An operational and financial review conducted in July 2024 identified two critical cost pressures that were materially affecting the factory's competitiveness: 1. Mounting Waste Disposal Costs from Production Scrap The two blow molding lines generated substantial quantities of process scrap — including start-up reject containers, flash from mold parting lines, off-spec products from material changeovers, and damaged goods from line clearance. This scrap accumulated to approximately 28 tons per month, representing 6.2% of total monthly output. All of this material was being collected by a licensed industrial waste handler and transported to a licensed landfill facility. Under Indonesia's revised Regulation No. 22/2021 on Environmental Protection and Management, the waste handler's fees had increased by 45% in the 18 months to July 2024. Monthly waste disposal costs had risen from 85 million IDR ($5,300 USD) to 123 million IDR ($7,700 USD) — a figure projected to reach 160 million IDR ($10,000 USD) by end of 2025 as further regulatory increases took effect. 2. Virgin Resin Costs Eating Into Margins HDPE resin — the primary raw material — represented approximately 58% of the factory's total production cost. Global HDPE prices had risen by 22% between January 2023 and July 2024, and the purchasing team had been unable to secure equivalent price reductions from their existing suppliers. At the same time, competitive pressure from lower-cost manufacturers in Vietnam and Thailand meant that finished container prices could not be increased proportionally. Management recognized that reducing the effective cost per kilogram of material input — by reintroducing production scrap as a blended virgin-recycle material — offered one of the most direct paths to margin recovery. However, the existing sc...

Thai BOPP Film Factory Case Study: 35% Energy Reduction & 22% Output Increase with ZILLION Auxiliary Equipment Location: Rayong Province, Thailand | Industry: BOPP Film Extrusion | Equipment Upgraded: Industrial Chiller, Vertical Mixer, Hopper Dryer The Background This Thai BOPP (biaxially-oriented polypropylene) film manufacturing facility is located in the Rayong Industrial Zone on Thailand's Eastern Seaboard. The factory operates two Blown Film extrusion lines with a combined output of approximately 3,200 tons of finished film per year, supplying flexible packaging materials to food, pharmaceutical, and consumer goods manufacturers across Southeast Asia and the Middle East. The facility employs 85 staff across two production shifts and was established in 2010. By late 2023, the factory faced intensifying competition from new BOPP capacity coming online in Vietnam and Indonesia, and from rising resin prices that compressed margins across the regional film industry. Improving production efficiency and reducing conversion costs became urgent strategic priorities. The Challenges A production efficiency review conducted in November 2023 identified three interconnected problems that were collectively limiting the plant's competitiveness: 1. Chiller Performance Degrading Under Continuous Film Production Film extrusion requires precise cooling to solidify the molten polymer bubble at controlled temperatures. The factory's primary cooling system — a 10-year-old air-cooled chiller rated at 320 kW — had developed significant performance drift. On hot days (when ambient temperatures in Rayong regularly exceed 35°C), the chiller struggled to maintain the required cooling water temperature of 18-22°C. This caused the extrusion line to reduce speed by an average of 12% during peak afternoon hours, effectively losing 2-3 hours of full-rate production every working day. The chiller's average energy consumption of 128 kW also represented a significant cost center, with monthly electricity bills for cooling alone averaging $8,200 USD — a figure that had risen 29% over two years as energy tariffs increased. 2. Residual Moisture Causing Film Defects HDPE and LLDPE resins — the primary raw materials for the factory's three most profitable film grades — require thorough drying before extrusion. The factory relied on two aging hopper dryers with a combined capacity of 250 kg/hr. These units were unable to maintain consistent dew point temperatures below -30°C during Thailand's humid rainy season (May-October), resulting in moisture levels in the processed resin that occasionally exceeded the 0.1% threshold. Moisture in the melt caused voids, pinholes, and reduced tensile strength in the finished film — defects that triggered customer complaints and, in two documented cases, caused entire batches to be rejected. In 2023, moisture-related quality incidents accounted for an estimated $48,000 USD in scrap and rework cos...