How Ingelam extended the lifespan of a critical machine and guaranteed the production of millions of units daily.

The Challenge

A food production plant with a grading line handling over nine million eggs per day faced a critical situation:

• The main grading machine had become obsolete.
  
  
• No spare parts were available.
  
  
• The manufacturer demanded a complete upgrade, with high costs and implications of prolonged downtime.

The plant needed an immediate solution. They could not stop their operation nor compromise product quality.

Ingelam’s Solution

The Ingelam engineering team took on the challenge by implementing a strategy based on reverse engineering, technological integration, and on-site support.

Key Actions:

• Control logic was reconstructed by analyzing the physical operation and conducting interviews with operators, electricians, and mechanics.
  
  
• A new control algorithm was developed, optimized for the current equipment.
  
  
• New electrical panels were designed and installed with modern controllers and precision instrumentation.
  
  
• Compatibility between the new technology and the existing mechanical structure was guaranteed.

All this was executed without original manufacturer information and with the machine out of service, achieving a full process recovery.

The Results

The project not only restored the machine to operation but enhanced its performance:

• Significant increase in grading speed, thanks to modernized controls and sensors
• Drastic reduction in failures and downtime

• Greater precision in size and weight grading, optimizing productivity and quality control
• Extended equipment lifespan, avoiding a multi-million dollar investment in new machinery

Today, the grader continues operating with total reliability, and the client maintains their production line continuity without having to shut down their plant.

The Project’s Voice

“We had to rebuild the logic from scratch, talk to operators, analyze signals, and develop a new algorithm on a stopped machine. When it started operating again and surpassed its previous speed, we knew we had made history.”
— Jefferson Bedoya Hoyos,Technical Manager, Ingelam.

Lessons Learned

This project demonstrated that intelligent modernization doesn’t always require complete replacement, but rather a technical vision capable of recovering, adapting, and optimizing existing systems.
It also reinforced a key conviction within the Ingelam team:

“Engineering is measured by its ability to solve problems, even when there’s no manual.”

Looking to the Future

The experience with this grader became a benchmark model for modernizing obsolete industrial equipment.
Today, Ingelam applies this methodology across sectors where operational continuity and efficiency are critical factors: food processing, agribusiness, and manufacturing.

CTA final

Does your plant have obsolete equipment or lack technical support?
At Ingelam, we help you modernize without stopping operations, combining reverse engineering, advanced control systems, and permanent technical support.

👉 Discover more at ingelam.com.co
Ingelam: Engineering that breathes new life into your processes.