Appealing packaging is just as important time-savings

he Multivac R085 thermoforming packaging machine is based on a drawer-like system for the dies, making it quick and easy to switch to a different packaging format. “This makes lengthy changeovers a thing of the past; you simply remove one die and insert another,” explains Wim Fredrikze from the company Vleesch en Meer. He has been using the machine for the past six months.

Wim Fredrikze already had 25 years of meat industry experience under his belt – he acquired his uncle’s company when he was just 23, sold it again when he was 30 and subsequently built up another company of his own – when he founded the firm Vleesch en Meer in Spijkenisse together with his business partner Johan van der Boor in 2013. Fredrikze injected his knowledge of the meat industry, while Van der Boor came from a foodservice background. The company started out sourcing meat products and selling them to the foodservice sector in and around Rotterdam. “Initially we were only focused on trade customers, but then in November 2015 we acquired a foodservice butcher’s business – including his customers and employees. Among those employees were production operatives who knew all about portioning. As a result, following the acquisition we could not only meet the needs of foodservice customers such as by preparing 100g or 200g steaks, but we also gained a whole new customer base. And we already had the necessary equipment in-house, so we could start producing immediately.”

Airlines

The demand for products has expanded ever since. Fredrikze: “We’re currently supplying meat and meat-based products to 80 percent of the food wholesalers and to the manufacturing sector, but also to retailers, butchers, restaurants, hotels, catering companies, beach pavilions, hospitals and other institutional clients as well as to even bigger customers such as airlines and cruise ships. Foodservice accounts for approximately a third of our sales and airlines and cruise ships for two-thirds.”
Vleesch en Meer is not the only meat supplier in the Netherlands, so what sets the company apart from its competitors? “We supply more than 180 types of meat, so we have a very large product portfolio. Besides that we are highly automated, are open six days a week and we’re very flexible. Plus we’re quick; if you place your order before noon, it’s delivered to you by 9 a.m. the next day.” Last but not least, Vleesch en Meer does almost everything in-house, including slicing, smoking and packaging.

Thermoforming packaging machine

To be able to package its products appropriately, Vleesch en Meer has been using a Multivac thermoformer – the R085 – for the past six months. “It’s a very compact machine, measuring less than three metres in length. In the past a thermoformer could be as long as ten metres. If you needed to change the die to package a different size of steak, for example, then you had to dismantle the machine. That meant it cooled down, so you had to wait for the machine to heat up again afterwards. With this machine, changing the dies is a ten-minute job. It’s just like a kitchen drawer; you simply take the old one out and slot in the new one.” That saves a lot of time, particularly for a company like Vleesch en Meer, which isn’t one of the biggest players in the sector and often handles lots of different orders. “One minute we’ll be packaging 300 steaks of one size, and a little later we’ll need 200 steaks of a different size. This machine copes with that really well. It’s also easy to learn how to use it thanks to the touchscreen.” That control panel allows various parameters to be set simply too. Fredrikze: “The advantage of Multivac is that they are specialised in vacuum packaging. Suppliers of various types of machines are often a jack of all trades but masters of none; in this case, we’re working with specialists. Thanks to such expertise, the engineers can solve any technical problems more quickly.” In the unlikely case of a problem, the machine builder can be contacted 24 hours a day, 365 days a year and it can deploy field service technicians, although that’s often not even necessary. Whenever a problem arises, the technicians analyse the situation and always attempt to resolve it by telephone first – and they succeed in 60 to 80 percent of cases. That approach works well for small incidents such as a change in the settings, and it is also the fastest option for customers. But if the problem cannot be solved remotely, a technician is dispatched to the site as quickly as possible.

Shelf life

Equally importantly, Fredrikze is very satisfied with the packaging itself: “I receive positive feedback about how our products are packaged. They have a nice clean look, with little waste and little blood. The packaging is stretched so tightly around the meat that there’s virtually nowhere for blood or liquid to go, so it stays inside the product. That looks much neater, plus it’s good for the flavour.” Vleesch en Meer processes and packages the meat completely naturally, without water or other additives. The thermoformer extends the shelf life too. “Providing you use the right film, that is,” adds Fredrikze, who is happy with his choice of equipment supplier. “At Multivac they have a reputation for building good machines and they have a good service department. In the case of a technical problem, it comes down to how quickly it can be resolved – after a couple of days or within a couple of hours. That makes an essential difference to our production activities and turnover.”

www.vleeschenmeer.nl
www.multivac.nl