Higher productivity and better packing quality for Danish Crown with PowerPak PLUS
Sustainability, efficiency and quality are prime requirements for food producers everywhere. For Danish Crown these aims were part of its corporate mission and so it chose GEA PowerPak PLUS to provide it with the ultimate in thermoforming technology.
Customer profile
Danish Crown is one of Europe’s largest producers of pork products with production throughout Europe and China and market access in 130 countries. Since 1887 the company has provided a farm-to-fork service with social responsibility part of its DNA. It is always looking for better ways to produce food with respect for livestock, people and the environment. Its current goal is to achieve climate-neutral production by 2050.
The ability to see how much film is left on the reel reduces film wastage considerably and allows us to optimise film changing."- Brian Abrahamsen, Danish Crown
- Brian Abrahamsen, Danish Crown
The challenge
As part of its continual drive towards better quality, efficiency and sustainability, Danish Crown wanted to upgrade its thermoformers used for packing a wide range of pork products for retail sales. Critical aims were to improve the ease and speed of the machine set up and film change, reduce film usage, improve up time, reduce film and product wastage, optimise packing quality and be as easy as possible to use.
I am pleased to say, the GEA PowerPak PLUS has exceeded even our expectations."- Brian Abrahamsen, Danish Crown
- Brian Abrahamsen, Danish Crown
The right perfomance
Danish Crown chose PowerPak PLUS thermoformers from GEA. These new machines are completely different from other thermoformers on the market and include a wide range of innovative features that have been included specifically to address the day-to-day needs of customers. One key area that GEA focussed on was the web threading and tensioning system with its two-sided reel support that is simple, fast and sufficiently stable to avoid overstretching the film or causing wrinkles that can affect packing quality.
“We estimate that threading is 30% faster and we have reduced the time needed to change reels by up to 75%,“ said Brian Abrahamsen from Danish Crown. Top and bottom films are adjusted automatically, without any manual involvement, saving time and releasing operators for other tasks. “This is the most fantastic feature,“ Brian added. He also said that the ability to see how much film is left on the reel reduces film wastage considerably and allows him to optimise film changing. “A lot of film is saved and as the packaging materials amount to a relatively high percentage of the price, this is an essential feature of the machine.”
GEA has built into the PowerPak PLUS many other features that combine to maximise efficiency within the packing plant. The machine is exceptionally quiet, reducing the working stress on employees; it’s easy to operate with an intuitive control panel; common components make maintenance quick and easy and reduce inventory costs; fewer safety switches allow faster and more effective cleaning; and RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) identifies individual operators and programs settings accordingly. Transparent sliding safety doors give good visibility and easy access and, unlike removable hoods that are often left on the floor, are both hygienic and less easily damaged.
Danish Crown had high hopes for the PowerPak PLUS when it was first installed. “I am pleased to say, it has exceeded even our expectations,” said Brian. “GEA also has some fantastic service technicians: they do the resale.”
