OptiNut: Promoting Local Production through Engineering Innovations
With OptiNut, a “plug and produce” machinery, Nutriset pushes the boundaries of technology transfer in order to meet the increasing requests of local initiatives for the production of commodities used to tackle malnutrition.
With the increasing commitment of national governments and partners in developing nations to tackle forms of both acute and chronic malnutrition, the demand for programs addressing malnutrition has increased. To foster national capacity to address malnutrition and empower local actors, Nutriset has developed an expertise in technology transfer. Faced with a growing number of requests for small- or mid-scale local production of therapeutic and preventative nutrition products, Nutriset has worked hard towards a degree of standardization in the machinery without decreasing the quality of production. OptiNut is the result of these efforts.
Reduce size and cost to a minimum
An optimization study was conducted on the equipment used to produce nutrition pastes (Plumpy’nut®, Nutributter®, etc.), with the idea of reducing to an absolute minimum, in terms of size and cost, each device and item.
The OptiNut production kit is meant as a
complete production line, with grinding and mixing equipments already achieved,
and improvements of the packaging machinery planned. While decreasing modularity,
OptiNut does not change the processes nor alters the quality of the finished
product, and has many advantages.
It is compact, easy to transport, easy to install, and easy to maintain. It
requires no disassembly before shipment and can be shipped whole in a
container. With one-day “plug and produce” installation and easy touch screen
display, within days of receiving an OptiNut production kit, local producers
can have a production capacity in sachets of 100 metric tons per month.
OptiNut for pots
As next steps, an OptiNut version is currently being adapted for production of pots, for products such as Plumpy’doz®. A training program using modern e-learning tools is also under development in order to avoid the time and expense of individual training sessions.
In line with Nutriset’s commitment to facilitating the access and the availability of products designed for the enhancement of the nutritional status of children and other vulnerable people, engineering innovations such as OptiNut continue to push the boundaries of nutritional autonomy.
