From custom customer solution to series product

The latest innovation from the Höcker Group is part of the Cleanmaster family and bears the name HS62TR. What is behind it is the Hygiene Station HS62, converted for dry operation. The high-quality Höcker stainless steel Hygiene Station was developed as a custom solution for a specific customer, emphasizes Managing Director Benjamin Höcker. The trigger for this special design was an inquiry from a company in the Netherlands. "We solved individual customer needs quickly and easily," says Höcker – successfully: after the Hygiene Station for dry operation was put into service in Holland, the system is now listed in the Höcker 2019 catalog as a series product among more than 700 high-quality, often customizable solutions for the meat and food industry as well as pharmaceuticals.

As required for dry operation, for example in bakeries, the Hygiene Station for dry operation does not have internal water piping for brush moistening. Instead, the floor of the system is removable and serves as a crumb drawer to regularly remove dirt from the brush area. Additionally, the rotating brush system is equipped with a reflex light switch for brush rotation and entry sensors, providing reliable protection against entering production without cleaning and disinfection.

Solution developed jointly upon customer request for special requirements

Back to the customer inquiry that started it all: via the Höcker online shop, the Dutch company requested a Hygiene Station with dry cleaning. They were convinced by Höcker's products in this field and now needed a customized solution for their particular challenge in food production. Lucas Harberink, Höcker sales representative for Benelux, contacted the company directly: "The special request motivated us, as is often the case, to develop a product tailored specifically to their requirements."

The collaboration was straightforward from the start. "Less than a week after the initial email contact, we sat down together and developed an initial idea for solving the individual requirement," says Höcker. The challenge was to avoid any moisture during the production of different rice meals, seven days a week. This also meant that wet cleaning was not permitted – neither during the production process nor in maintaining the high hygiene standards for employees. The customer's requirement was to make hand and shoe sole washing as dry as possible and, if desired, to offer hand disinfection as an option.

Experience with Hygiene Stations and Sole Cleaners

With Höcker's expertise from the meat and food industry as well as pharmaceuticals, the challenge was successfully met. The result is Höcker’s first Hygiene Station for dry operation. It is designed as a double-sided walk-through sole cleaning machine that can be combined with a manual hand cleaning and disinfection turnstile unit. For the first customer in the Netherlands, the Hygiene Station was also integrated with an emergency exit door. This created a hygiene corridor with perfect hygiene and an ideal escape route, meeting all safety regulations.

No passage with dirty soles and un-disinfected hands

When entering the production area, the two shoe brushes are automatically activated. In the hand wash chamber, a sensor detects both of the employee’s hands and wets the palms with liquid soap, which is then rinsed off along with the wash water in the machine. This keeps the moisture where it belongs: inside the Hygiene Station. After drying the hands, four special nozzles spray disinfectant as a fine mist from above and below onto the hands. Only after the complete hand cleaning and subsequent hand disinfection does the turnstile allow entry into the production area. The three-second opening time is deliberately timed so that only one person can pass at a time. If safety requires, the turnstile can be unlocked at any time via the integrated release button, allowing it to rotate freely in both directions. Under normal circumstances, dirty soles and hands have no chance with the Cleanmaster Hygiene Station HS62TR.