Headquartered in Son en Breugel, the Netherlands, Vion is an internationally operating foodstuffs group with production and sales branches in all continents. Vion employs 15,150 people and reported a turnover of €7.4 billion in 2006. This puts the company among the Netherlands' top industrial companies, and also makes it one of the largest foodstuffs companies in the world. Vion operates in the field of high quality foodstuffs and ingredients for both human and animal consumption, boasting the motto “Passion for Better Food”. The meat business of the Dutch group focuses on delivering fresh, pre-packed as well as frozen and processed meat, including pork, beef, veal, and lamb.

The shrink barrier bags bring the added benefit of meat maturation under vacuum.

 

 

Vion Germany employs 7,339 people and runs 45 plants in the country. Previously, Vion Germany was vacuum packing their fresh veal, beef and lamb industrial units on thermoforming equipment. With the help of global food packaging specialist Sealed Air, the company recently opted for a fully automatic vacuum-packaging line, including the high-speed robotic bag loader Cryovac Roboloader® BLR1. Such high performance equipment reduces manpower and maintenance while enhancing productivity and flexibility.

 

High performance shrink barrier bags are designed for performance packaging of fresh meat primals and consumer units.

The machine is a fully automatic high-speed robotic bag loader for putting fresh meat primals into taped bags to deliver improved quality at lower costs. With one operator for feeding and supervising, at speeds up to 20 packs per minute, the system reduces manning requirements. “The BLR1 machine is simple to maintain, clean, and extremely easy to use, in addition to enhancing logistics and product flow,” said Vion plant manager Peter Overmann.

 

The packaging automation project generates numerous benefits for Vion Germany. Firstly, it results in substantial productivity gains, as well as savings in manpower and maintenance costs – a critical advantage for large-scale meat packaging operations. Secondly, it allows the company to produce meat packs of consistent quality, size, weight and cost, thus seemingly helping to keep consumer prices under control. Such increased reliability also leads to increased productivity and output.

 

The meat automation project also included switching to Cryovac shrink bags. The high resistance bags bring quality assurance and reliability, ensuring product quality throughout the distribution chain. They provide high sealability for increased pack integrity, abuse resistance and seal strength, increased output with fewer rejects and leakers, while ensuring improved product visibility. Moreover, the shrink barrier bags bring the added benefit of meat maturation under vacuum, resulting in increased tenderness and eating quality, thereby bringing substantial added value to the end consumer.

 

 

 

The meat packs are delivered to major retail chains such as Metro, Real, Edeka, Tengelmann in Moksel, Vion Convenience Stores and Handelshof. Vion and the retailers are clearly pleased with the consistent quality afforded by the automated packaging process. Now a

standard configuration with all BLR1 machines, the packaging system further boosts productivity. Easy to install, this device allows quick bag chain installation, delivering higher productivity and flexibility by reducing downtimes for bag changeovers. MI

 

Thanks to automatic measurement of the product dimensions, the loader’s robotic arm selects the appropriate bag out of the six available sizes through a product dimension detector.

Source: Meat International magzine Volume 18. No. 9