News

The London based Halal Food Authority (HFA) visited PennWhite a few days ago to conduct an audit of our processes and facilities, the first stage in our application for halal certification of our food-grade products.

As well as reviewing our documented working practices, the HFA inspected our dedicated food-grade manufacturing area and storage facilities before visiting our Quality Control Station and laboratory. At the end of their audit they expressed approval of our food-grade processes, our plant and our segregation measures. They then invited us to proceed to the next stage of our application and submit our product specifications for halal certification.

We are now collecting and collating the required supporting documents for each of our food-grade foam control agents, lubricants and release agents. We expect to submit these early next year and hope to receive HFA certification soon after.

Last Friday PennWhite took delivery of an additional 9,000 litre bulk storage tank. Once commisioned, the new tank will be dedicated to the storage of Foamdoctor food-grade antifoams. Technical Director Dr Mark Humphries is confident that the new tank will improve efficiency, “The extra capacity will eliminate the use of intermediate containers between manufacture and despatch. We’ll be able to decant directly into the pack size required by our customers, this will be save time and reduce opportunities for contamination.”

The 9,000 litre tank will shortly be joined by a 4,500 litre tank for the storage of antifoams tailored to the water treatment industry.

2013/14 has been another record year for PennWhite, it saw the tonnage of finished goods leaving our factory exceed the 2012/13 figure by 26%. And this got us wondering; if we could stack each IBC of finished product we shipped this year on top of one another, just how high would the stack be?

Greasil 3000 is a water repellent, non-melting, low conductivity grease lubricant developed for applications in construction, automotive and mechanical services industries.

This environmentally (and user) friendly product is tasteless, odourless and non toxic. It will not degrade rubber, plastic or metal and is not effected by daylight or strong UV light. Softer than other greases in the PennWhite range, Greasil 3000 has an unworked penetration of 315mm and its dialectric strength of around 20kv/mm imparts low electrical conductivity to the grease. This high performance lubricant can be used in temperatures from -50C to +280C.

Greasil 3000 is particularly suited to the assembly of plastic pipework, “O” ring assembly, waterproofing electical components, protecting pourous surfaces and lubrication of items subject to temperature extremes. It is available now in a range of packs from 100g to 200kg.

Intertek Certification Ltd visited PennWhite yesterday to carry out their annual assessment of PennWhite’s ISO 9001 Management Systems.

During the audit Intertek reviewed PennWhite’s production procedures, checked the traceability of goods and the management of non-conformances, as well as talking to staff about sales order processing and purchasing. Afterwards Intertek were able to confirm that the policies and procedures in place at PennWhite are in compliance with the requirements of ISO 9001:2008. As a result the ISO 9001 Management System at PennWhite remains independently certified for a fifteenth consecutive year.

“ISO 9001 is a fundamental part of our business,” says Technical Director Dr Mark Humphries, “It provides a structure that we can measure ourselves against and encourages us to constantly review and improve our performance. ISO 9001 benefits our customers and it benefits us.”