Grocery prices are at record highs, driven in part by increased labor costs for food production. Labor turnover, open jobs, and the high cost of temporary labor are all adding to the increased prices consumers are witnessing this summer. For grocery prices to come down, food processors must find a way to reduce their operating costs so they can pass those savings on to the consumer. Food processors will benefit from understanding how Marlen’s automatic filling process allows manual labor to be redeployed to other critical areas of production by eliminating manual hand filling of horizontal form/fill/seal pockets, glass or plastic jars, cans, pre-formed trays, and other common packaging types, which can save on labor costs.
Volumetric Fillers Provide an Accurate, Reliable, Automated Process
Whether you are filling moist precooked and chilled shredded or cubed chicken, beef, or pork, naturally fermented veggies (e.g., kimchi or sauerkraut), real or imitation smokeless tobacco, flaked fish or shredded surimi, the Marlen line of volumetric fillers will provide consistent laborsaving results. The Marlen industrial filling process is known for handling hard-to-fill product applications that are often referred to as “hand fill only.” Food processors can eliminate product giveaway by maintaining a fill weight accuracy as low as one standard deviation being equal to ±2% of the target fill weight. These fill weights are easily adjusted “on the fly” either manually, or via the optional servo motor.
The slide fill mechanism of the Marlen Industrial Filler automatically gathers and softly compresses the cold, moist products, reducing air pockets to create a consistent density. The Marlen filler can easily be adapted to integrate to rotary pouch sealers (simplex and duplex), horizontal form fill/seal equipment, MAP or skin pack tray sealing lines of preformed meat trays, or in-line filling of plastic or glass jars, and steel cans. Moist product is processed accurately and without damage, meaning that these products can now be processed at a very high volume. Package weights are repeatable and consistent, production run after production run.
Industrial Filling Machines Redeploy Your Labor Force
Labor can be redeployed because of the accuracy, consistency, and repeatability of the Marlen industrial filler. Marlen’s automated process eliminates manual labor for hand filling, which allows food plants to redeploy “hard to find” labor to other areas within the plant.
Traditional processing would have these 8 to 14 team members manually fill buckets to weigh them, add or remove product to obtain the desired weight, and then hand-deposit the product into the packaging machine. The Marlen filling solution automates this process so processors can shift labor to other areas of their plant, reducing manual labor associated with industrial filling of food products.
Marlen is Your Process Partner for Your Filling Applications
For over 65 years, Marlen has been trusted by leading food brands and assures value to its customers through the highest consistency, accuracy, and product integrity. Marlen’s teams of expert engineers, designers, and technical personnel consult, collaborate, and partner with food processors across the globe to create custom innovative solutions for their food processing business. Marlen’s food processing equipment—from industrial filling to pumping, thermal processing, food handling, and more—are backed by a global network of certified technicians who are equipped to perform installation, start-up, preventive maintenance, emergency service, and on-site equipment services. Marlen is prepared to deliver the quality and performance expected of a true process partner with parts, sales, and service operations across the globe: from Riverside, Missouri, to Nieuwpoort, Belgium, to Bangkok, Thailand. So, if you are considering innovative filling solutions for your products, and to thereby redeploy the labor in your factory, it’s the company behind the process solution that makes the difference.
