Cost efficiency with automated ready-meal production line
Kauhajoki-based Valkoinen Puu opened its first café in Kauhajoki in 2011, and since then, three more cafes have opened across Finland. The products of the cafes are known for their deliciousness, organic and local ingredients, with a commitment to excellent taste and minimal additives. This commitment was also the foundation for the development of Valkoinen Puu’s ready-made meals. The idea, initially just a suggestion, to bring Premium-level ready-made meals to the domestic market, relying on local ingredients, turned out the Food Factory and delicious raw frozen lasagnas in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Lasagna Line Initiated During the Pandemic
The strict restrictions on restaurant and café services during the COVID-19 pandemic challenged Valkoinen Puu entrepreneurs to think about ways to develop their business beyond their expanded café operations.
“Regarding lasagnas, it had mostly just been tossed around that we should also get these into stores. But then, the pandemic hit, and we began thinking about what else we could do when the cafés closed.
Lasagna was the first thing on our minds,” says Kirsi Heidt, one of the entrepreneurs at Valkoinen Puu.
In addition to café treats, Valkoinen Puu started serving its lunch customers with lasagnas delivered to their homes. The popularity of these portioned lasagnas was so significant that Valkoinen Puu entrepreneurs started thinking how lasagnas could be produced more efficiently on a larger scale.
Kirsi ja Mark Heidt began exploring options for developing a lasagna line, mainly looking at solutions from Italy. However, the solutions seemed too large for a novice player in this type of food production. Soon, the entrepreneurs concluded that, since this type of food production was so new to them, it would be beneficial to find external expertise to lead the project.
The entrepreneurs of Valkoinen Puu met with a local consultant who had the experience they were looking for. For the consultant, Kometos’ expertise in dosing and packaging solutions was familiar, and, in the end, the experts for the project were unexpectedly found quite close. Kirsi Heidt says:
Localness is an important value in all our operations, and we were delighted that such strong expertise in developing the lasagna line was found in our own municipality instead of Italy.”
Line Designing Based on Production Space Constraints
The need for automation often arises from everyday challenges, and this was also the case for Valkoinen Puu: the idea for the lasagna line emerged when entrepreneurs contemplated how to dispense sauces more conveniently and consistently than by using a ladle by hand. They also thought about how to minimize splashes and speed up the process, as a lot of time from their small team was spent cleaning up the manually performed work. Additionally, the production of lasagnas tied up employees whose contribution was needed on the bread and café side of Valkoinen Puu.
Initially, the customer planned to combine automatic and manual steps in the line. However, as demand for the products increased, and with the growing intensity and cost of manual work, along with the diverse possibilities of the lasagna line becoming apparent, they opted for a fully automated system. This system utilizes robotics for the most precision-demanding steps, such as handling lasagna sheets. The wish was for the line to be designed so that only one person would be needed to monitor it.
Finding a production space for lasagna production was, however, the most critical part of the project. It was clear that the production line had to be designed based on the space’s conditions. Kirsi Heidt explains:
Fortunately, the local community was helpful here as well, and once the space was found, Kometos managed to design the line in a way that the space utilization was optimized and practical for our production.”
Successful Delivery Despite the Pandemic
Solutions were found to accommodate the production space constraints of Valkoinen Puu in the line design, also incorporating new innovations: the utilization of robotics in the food industry is still limited, as in an industry dealing with animals and food preparation, human involvement in the early stages of the production process remains important for animal welfare as well as food safety and hygiene. However, the final stages of the production process, such as dosing and packaging, have already begun to be safely and efficiently automated, for example, through the use of cobots, aka collaborative robots.
Utilizing a cobot in Valkoinen Puu’s lasagna line brought the much-needed flexibility to the overall solution, particularly in the laying of lasagna sheets. The cobot also enabled space-saving as it is suitable for use even in more limited areas. Tuomas Paloviita, Product Manager at Kometos, explains: “The project provided us at Kometos with an interesting opportunity to combine our solid expertise in food industry processes with new innovations.
The food industry involves seasonality and seasonal products as well as other limited production batches, requiring production lines to adapt to rapid product changes. Robotics can also streamline product changes, as reprogramming a cobot, for example, is easier than with heavier industrial robots.“
In any procurement process, but especially in startup operations, close collaboration between the customer and the supplier becomes crucial to find the most suitable solution for the needs. In the project with Valkoinen Puu, it was important to align the recipe of the product being produced with the performance of the lasagna line and adjust both to ensure the most optimal outcome.
The challenges brought by the pandemic added their own difficulties to the project: due to travel restrictions, a foreign engineer specialized in packaging technology couldn’t travel to Finland, and the global component shortage delayed the production of the line. However, investing in automation and modern technology proved rewarding: we received a lot of positive feedback from end customers, and the high-quality products generated significant interest once they reached the stores.
Despite the challenges posed by the pandemic, the comprehensive service we received from Kometos is something we wouldn’t have gotten elsewhere, and the active maintenance service nearby is also very reassuring for us – we can rely on fast maintenance service when needed.”
Maintenance and equipment training ensure smooth production
Accessibility of maintenance and prompt action are important for the food industry. The maintenance agreement we offer for Kometos equipment includes, among other things, regular inspection visits to prevent breakdowns and production stoppages, quick on-site service when needed, and availability of spare parts.
Training the staff to operate production equipment is also important to ensure the smooth running of the production process. All Kometos equipment deliveries include comprehensive orientation and guidance on how our equipment works, and our employees, for example during maintenance procedures, can provide more information about the operation of the equipment.
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