# Hygienic Tube Connections in the Food, Dairy and Beverage Industry: Why Weld Quality Impacts Product Safety

The Food, Dairy and Beverage Industry places special requirements on tube systems. Products such as milk, dairy products, beverages, syrups and process water come into direct contact with product-contact surfaces within the plant.

Therefore, tube systems must meet the highest standards in hygiene, cleanability and product safety.

Weld joints play a key role in achieving these objectives. Irregularities, heat tint, dead legs or areas that are difficult to clean can reduce the cleanability of a system. For operators, this results in increased requirements for quality assurance, CIP/SIP cleaning concepts and plant availability.

For this reason, orbital welding has become established in hygienic processing plants. The process enables high-quality, reproducible weld joints with consistent internal geometry and controlled weld quality. This ensures that Hygienic Design, cleanability and process reliability requirements can be met consistently. Particularly in product-contact tube systems, high-quality welds are an important prerequisite for safe and economical plant operation.

To meet these requirements, Orbitec offers a comprehensive portfolio of open and closed orbital weld heads specifically designed for high-quality tube connections in hygienic processing plants.

With closed orbital weld heads, the weld is continuously flooded with shielding gas throughout the entire welding process. This reduces heat tint and supports consistently high weld quality. At the same time, precise weld preparation combined with the orbital welding process enables reproducible weld joints, an essential requirement for hygienic tube systems.

Another advantage: Orbitec not only supplies orbital welding technology, but also solutions for tube preparation, tube end preparation, purging and documentation. This provides users with all relevant process steps from a single source.

Are you planning a new production line, expanding existing processing plants or modernising hygienic tube systems?

Our application specialists will be pleased to support you directly on site and help you select the right solution for your specific requirements.