Quantum Foods - Great Steaks!
Establishing any business takes courage, determination and an endless amount of hard work. To make it succeed you need all these factors and more - like creative thinking, organisation and maybe a little bit of luck, but at the end of the day it's sheer drive and dedication that brings real success.
Growing any business from nothing to sales exceeding $115 million in just five years is surely an extraordinary achievement and that's what Ed Bleka, Rick Cortopassi and their team at Quantum Foods have done. And, as if that wasn't enough, the company is moving to a new, state-of-the-art processing and manufacturing facility later this year. In fact, by the time you read this they will probably be there, preparing for the next leap forward and no doubt a Quantum leap at that.
Being involved in success is something that we at AEW THURNE take great pride in and we are particularly pleased to be allowed to report on our role at Quantum Foods, where two AEW THURNE APC Slicers and 30 AEW THURNE 400 high-speed bandsaws help the company to meet the high standards demanded by their customers throughout the USA and as far afield as Puerto Rico, Saudi Arabia, Japan and The Phillipines.
"APC is a real friend to our operators, " says Ed Bleka. "It doesn't have mood swings, it's never off sick and it's taken the pressure off the people who have to work so hard to fulfill our orders - and it more than compensates for the chronic shortage of skilled workers in this area. It complements our workforce."
Quantum's product range includes rib-eye and boneless strip steaks, which are produced on the APC Slicers, and T-Bone steaks cut manually on AEW THURNE 400 bandsaws. The products are sold to the food service market, including restaurant chains, and increasingly to retailers who rely heavily on firms like Quantum to meet the increasing demand for high volumes of accurate fixed weight portions.
"APC accuracy helped us get into the retail market where weight tolerance is zero," says Ed Bleka.
The accuracy and consistency of APC, coupled with the high output rates that it achieves, provides Quantum with low giveaway and high yields. The company operates 12-hour shifts, six days a week all year round, so this kind of productivity and efficiency is essential to profitability.
APC Slicers replaced Bettcher cleavers, which worked well to produce fixed thickness portions, but couldn't handle fixed weights. "We soon realised that we had no choice other than to buy a second APC, "said Ed Bleka, "The accuracy and the yields we got from the first machine were so impressive that we felt it necessary to purchase another to enable us to make even more savings on the cost of production - after all, it's these in-house savings that make us competitive.
Commenting on this exclusive use of 30 AEW THURNE 400 Bandsaws, which cut T-Bone steaks at high speed 12 hours a day, six days a week, Ed Bleka says, "I just can't see why anyone uses any other saw. The 400 allows our operators to put out high volumes with accuracy and high yields, thanks to its high speed. For portion control the machine is superb - it's reliable, easy to clean and extremely well built which means that the operators don't get too tired using them - an important factor when it comes to productivity and safety. I wish we had more machines as good as these."
But back to the future and time to consider AEW THURNE's contribution to the continuing success of Quantum. Ed Bleka is kind enough to acknowledge the fact that AEW THURNE and other machinery manufacturers have played an important role in his company's rapid development. He's now looking at new processing methods which will further incorporate machine into line configurations and work flows. "We want to work in partnership with the likes of AEW, because the long term future of our company depends on working alongside manufacturers and all the other people who have helped us make this progress."
Wise words. Words that point to leaps in progress. Quantum leaps.
