90 portions a minute: How a ready meal producer scaled dosing without sacrificing quick product changes
A Northern European convenience food producer needed to increase output as demand and product range grew. The key challenge was ensuring the dosing equipment could scale with the business.
Scaling production without increasing headcount
The existing setup worked at lower volumes, but rising demand and more SKUs exposed its limitations. Manual dosing caused bottlenecks, and product changeovers delayed production. Seasonal peaks further strained throughput.
In food manufacturing, another compounding factor is labour. Hiring and retaining line workers is increasingly difficult, and relying on headcount to solve a capacity problem is rarely a durable fix.
At the same time, repetitive dosing tasks carry ergonomic costs that accumulate over time. Automation addresses both: it keeps the process running consistently and frees workers for tasks that genuinely require human judgment.
Test runs with real products
A key part of the process was pre-installation testing. Before any investment decision was finalised, the producer’s actual products were run through the equipment at Kometos.
The purpose is straightforward: to verify that the line works for the specific recipes involved, not just under controlled conditions. As Tuomas Paloviita, Product Manager at Kometos, says:
Testing gives us certainty about finding the right solution. The customer can either come and observe the testing in person, or we record it and send the footage directly to them.
In this case, the test showed that a weight-based dispenser didn’t yield as accurate results as a volume-based solution. After further testing, a three-head volume-based doser proved to be extremely accurate and provided the needed capacity increase.
Increased capacity
Following the investment, the line reached a throughput of up to 90 portions per minute. A two-line setup was increased to three parallel lines.
The installation was completed on-site, with the line configured to allow future modules to be added without major disruption to production. The control system covers all dosing units and can be managed as a whole, simplifying both operation and product changeovers.
Product changeovers, which had been a recurring source of downtime, became faster once the control system was in place. For a producer running multiple SKUs across seasonal peaks and troughs, this flexibility has a direct impact on planning and production efficiency.
Scalability as a design principle
The case reflects a broader shift in how food manufacturers approach automation investment. Rather than committing to a fully automated line from the outset, producers are increasingly looking for systems that can start lean and expand as the business warrants.
Product life cycles in the convenience food segment are shortening. A line that requires significant reconfiguration each time a product changes is a liability.
Collaborative robotics is one area where this flexibility becomes tangible: programmable dosing units can be adapted quickly when a product is updated or replaced, which matters particularly for seasonal items with short production windows.
Viivi Pulkkinen, Commercial Director at Kometos, says:
Most of our customers do not need a fully automated line on day one. They need a line that works today and can grow with them. That is a different design question and it changes what we recommend.
The simpler the task, the stronger the case for automation. Placing a lasagne sheet into a tray, for example, is easier and more consistent when handled by a machine. That frees the people on the line for the more varied and technically demanding work that automation cannot replicate. Versatility in the equipment supports versatility in the workforce.
For operations managers evaluating dosing equipment, the relevant question is not only what the line can do today, but what it will cost in time, disruption, and capital to adapt it when the product range inevitably changes.
Key considerations for dosing line investments
Based on the project described above and Kometos’s experience across similar installations, four questions tend to separate well-scoped investments from those that underdeliver:
What is the payback time? In the food industry, a payback period of under two years is generally the benchmark for individual dosing equipment. In the case described here, the combination of higher throughput and stable staffing contributed directly to that equation.
Can the line be expanded incrementally? Modular architecture reduces the cost and risk of scaling. Investments that require a full rebuild to grow rarely pay back on schedule.
Has it been tested with your actual product? Equipment that performs well on generic test products may behave differently with specific viscosities, portion weights, or packaging formats. Pre-installation testing reduces this risk. Ask your supplier for a recorded or live test with your product.
What does a product changeover cost? Cleaning time, reconfiguration, and restart losses are rarely included in headline capacity figures but often determine real-world efficiency.
