HS Innovations

Trent Andersen, Owner and President

HS Innovations (HSI) embodies this commitment to safety and quality.

HSI is dedicated to providing innovative and value-driven safety solutions through advanced engineering, design, and installation services for food processing plants, ensuring superior hygienic design. With more than two decades of experience in the food processing industry, HSI has earned the trust of numerous businesses by developing durable, reusable, and identifiable solutions, creating a new standard of precision and simplicity. A commitment to quality and safety guides its operations, from consultation to project completion, guaranteeing enhanced operational efficiency.

“Our meticulous attention to detail and laser-focus on specific client requirements enable us to craft the right solutions to alleviate pain points and boost productivity,” says Trent Andersen, owner and president of HSI.

A Consultative Approach to Innovating Solutions

In formulating the best solution for a client, the HSI team adopts a consultative approach to thoroughly understand their needs. They identify potential hurdles and determine whether the challenge at hand is an isolated or systemic problem, whether it is due to a harsh production environment, mechanical function failure, or a process or management issue.

The team then spends time with clients in their facilities to observe diverse situations, identifying opportunities for mechanical innovation and solutions that reduce labor costs, minimize failure points, and address management issues. This enables HSI to resolve common challenges lacking effective market solutions, and to create an innovative product that can solve multiple issues at once. Top of Form Once potential solutions have been ideated, the design and engineering phase begins. This involves CAD design, Revit modeling, and 3D printing to engage with client projects from the get-go, facilitating an in-depth understanding of the project’s scope. HSI then prototypes components and conducts in-house testing, followed by collaborating with clients onsite to further test and refine the product. This iterative process fosters mutual ownership. Following the finalization of the product, HSI spends considerable time onsite, integrating the product and ensuring everyone understands its functionality. HSI’s focus is not only on product efficacy, but also on comprehensive knowledge sharing.

“Our value-added services are driven by humility, with a focus on getting continuous feedback from clients, from toplevel management down to the team members that put their hands on the equipment on a daily basis,” says Andersen.

Creating products that are easily identifiable is a vital component in enhancing safety, as emphasized by HSI. To this end, they incorporate color-coding and distinct dimensions in their products to be easily recognizable, even from a distance. This attention to detail significantly improves overall product safety in various operational settings.

At the same time, HSI’s solutions are designed to enhance safety and standardization in various processing operations. In one instance, a client sought HSI’s support for an engineered solution to manage safety in their cooking process, particularly concerning fryers and associated infrastructure. Their major concern was the risk of a fire spreading due to external piping and components connected to each fryer and wanted to isolate fryers to enhance safety. HSI designed an automated oil management system that allowed safe oil transfer among fryers, tanks, and filters. The system included a single-button control to isolate a fryer in case of fire. HSI took it a step further and added a humanmachine interface and controls package for user-friendly oil management, providing data on oil use and disposal.

While developing this solution, the HSI team noticed considerable oil waste through the sediment conveyor filter. They devised a system that extracted residual oil from the belt and cleaned it while safely returning it back to the fryer. This process helped minimize the amount of waste oil needing disposal and optimized oil use within the production cycle. It led to substantial results.

Six months after installation, customer results showed an average oil recovery rate of 0.3 gallons per minute per line. Given the rising cost of cooking oil, this translated to significant cost savings. Additionally, the process used for oil recovery improved filtration and reduced fatty acids in the fryer oil, extending its usability. HSI quantified these benefits, illustrating potential annual savings around $600,000 per fryer in a production line.

While offering visible productivity and monetary benefits, HSI’s cutting-edge safety systems also monitor the smallest changes in the plant that can bring impactful outcomes. One example is its innovative Eyewash and Shower station EWS 2.0. Workers often encounter irritants such as debris or chemicals that come into contact with their eyes. Recognizing the need for advanced eye wash stations in plants, EWS 2.0 was designed to go beyond standard functionality and provide users with value-added features for sanitary and production floor applications. With a stainless-steel construction and a compact modular design, it is available in three different configurations including curb, column, and floor mounts, even in limited spaces. Each eyewash station is fully assembled, pressure tested, and carefully packaged to ensure quality control, allowing for quick and hassle-free installation on the job site. EWS 2.0 meets stringent safety standards set by OSHA and ANSI, specifically, Z358.1 guidelines.

High-Precision Sanitary Solutions to Prevent Contamination

Food processing companies invest significant resources to ensure their products are devoid of foreign materials like organic matter, wood, metal shavings, and plastic. Companies use metal detectors and X-ray machines to spot foreign materials before the products leave their premises, preventing costly recalls.

The ability to detect foreign particles is proportional to the size of the gasket pieces, which makes it impossible for all pieces to be completely metal detectable. To meet client requirements for detecting foreign materials as small as 1mm, HSI conducted tests on different metal detectable elastomeric sanitary gaskets. Unfortunately, none of the gasket pieces met the 1mm criterion, and most of them failed to detect metals, even with 8mm gaskets. HSI responded to this challenge by creating the Tag and Tethered (TNT) Sanitary Gaskets.

HSI’s tethered design also minimizes the loss of gaskets during the sanitation process and prevents damage to sealing faces. The benefits of this revolutionary design include enhanced productivity, reduced downtime, and a lower risk of product recalls.

Another challenge faced by facilities is the crosscontamination caused by inadvertently mixing chemicals in otherwise identical tanks. Containing substances like parasitic acid, chlorine, and other caustic chemicals, these bulk tanks have a history of sparking severe incidents due to operating mistakes, where entire towns have been forced to evacuate due to the emission of dangerous gases from the accidental mixing of incompatible chemicals. To prevent this, HSI developed a unique camlock system at each bulk tank for safe chemical transfer. Upon receiving a shipment, workers must input the bill of lading number, then scan a unique barcode matching the specific chemical. This opens a lockbox containing a unique coupling which is only compatible with the chemical being transferred. Its versatile configuration can easily be employed in other applications, not only in the food and beverage industry but, anywhere chemicals are transferred or stored. A patent application for this innovative system is currently pending.

A strong emphasis on client partnership has resulted in robust relationships. HSI’s collaborative approach fosters great client engagement by consistently demonstrating its adaptability in responding to evolving client needs in the fast-paced food processing sector. The company ties its success to the bigger picture, rather than immediate cost margins. HSI’s durable and reusable products are a sustainable investment for manufacturers seeking to prevent potentially catastrophic challenges like product recalls. With a steady commitment to developing value-adding improvements, coupled with state-of-theart components and systems, HSI is revamping the food processing space in the most efficient way.