BEAT 'M All Slicer by Sleegers Technique starts a revolution

The Beatle, the car with rounded shapes is known worldwide. Will the new Beat 'm All Slicer achieve the same fame? That is the aim of inventor Huub Sleegers. A road that took ten years, but became truth at LaBoucherie and was further continued at IFFA.

In 2010, Huub Sleegers had an idea. He wanted to build a machine with an 'out of the box' shape that would make the process of cutting and packaging much more efficient. A machine that would turn the fresh meat industry upside down. The world-famous 'Beatle' car was Huub's source of inspiration. However, the practical implementation needed some time. "It was a busy period, we were experiencing major growth and were mainly busy processing orders. There was no time for anything new." This went on for ten years.

The cradle

Sleegers Technique delivers slicers and interleavers that are 100% built by the company itself. Custom-made to unburden the customer. Huub Sleegers started his company thirty years ago. An enthusiastic machine builder who learned the trade in the family business with his father at the helm. "My parents had 14 children, eight of whom worked in the company. I was the technician, the Gyro Gearloose of the family, always searching for challenges." As an example, Huub mentions the development of diet meat products in the 1970s; with as little salt and spices as possible as substitutes. Also the hospital packaging of 1 to 2 slices of sandwich filling was put on the market by the Sleegers family. The family business turned out to be a good cradle for Huub's own company. With his team Sleegers Technique supplies machines for (round) cutting, inter- and underleaving, stacking and packaging of various fresh products to companies in Malaysia, Mexico and America, among others. Complete automatic lines for a perfect presentation of, in particular, carpaccio, bacon and hamburgers. 

Beat 'm all Slicer no. 1

The rush continued until Corona closed down the Netherlands. "Then the time had come, we started to further develop the Beatle slicer with five people in our R&D department", Huub explains enthusiastically. "We developed a prototype and in early 2022 the first machines were released. Intended for carpaccio producers in the Netherlands and abroad. We were invited to install the prototype, Beat 'm All Slicer no. 1, at LaBoucherie." Marc Woolthuis, who runs LaBoucherie in Made with his brother Robert, explains why: "We are an old-fashioned company that takes care of the better restaurant kitchens with sliced carpaccio. We used to slice carpaccio on many small machines. We want to stay away from the machine market which is becoming increasingly industrialised and where help with maintenance or breakdowns often leaves much to be desired. People and service are important to us and that's where Huub comes in."

The challenge

To get to LaBoucherie to place the prototype, Huub faced several challenges. His earlier invention, a slicer to cut circles, hearts and squares, now part of the Beat 'm All Slicer, was built in cooperation with LaBoucherie in Germany, because Huub did not yet have the machine to fit this slicer. There were, however, hurdles to be overcome in service and maintenance of this machine. Spare parts now had to come from far away, which became a time-consuming and costly process. A reason for Huub, who considers service and quick action very important, to start building his own machine. With success. Not only LaBoucherie, but also the other customers appreciate the custom work and the quick attention in case of maintenance and malfunctions. 

The revolution has started

Is the Beat 'm All up Slicer going to conquer the market? Marc is positive and lists the advantages: "First we produced 6-8 carpaccio packets per minute, now 28-30. With our chosen presentation method. Maintenance is also easier and faster. Cleaning the old machine took an hour, now it takes 20 minutes. All parts are easily accessible. The next step is to invest in the automatic collection of the packages in boxes. The control panel is super easy." "Set up with students, based on the smartphone. Everyone has to be able to work with it in their own language and we can control it remotely via the Internet," Huub says. Marc adds, "We can call or whatsapp for help 24/7 with the loyal club of employees at Sleegers." 

The Beat 'm All Slicer is not only meant for the meat industry, also fruits, fish, beets and other vegetables can be neatly sliced wafer-thin by this slicing expert. The official introduction is at the IFFA. " This is where we're going to pop," concludes Gyro Gearloose Huub.

www.sleegerstechnique.com
www.laboucherie.nl

Photos: ©Fotobureau Roel Dijkstra