Progress, progress, progress. That's what this story is all about; in fact it's an account of nothing short of a technological revolution brought about by the need to increase production and productivity of a first class product.
A PASSION TO PIONEER
The product needs no introduction, because it's known throughout the world for being first class in every way, so much so, that it has been given the designation 'By appointment to the Royal Danish Court' a rare privilege, but one which millions of ordinary people also enjoy.
We are, of course, talking about Tulip International, keepers of some of the best brands in the food industry. Brands such as Tulip Bacon, Danepak bacon, Danepak ham, Jaka (canned ready meals) and Shachter (air dried ham products), based in Germany.
Tulip International's products are sold in over 130 countries as branded goods and customers' own labels with Europe, the USA and Japan being their main markets.
Success of this magnitude takes sound management, creative product development and marketing, very high quality, a high degree of technical innovation and a substantial production resource. Tulip have all this and more and, when it comes to the technical innovation and production resource, we at AEW THURNE like to think that, over the years, we've worked well together and made a significant contribution. Companies like Tulip have grown because they are good at what they do and it shows the moment you walk through the door at their Thetford plant.
 |
We spent some considerable time tracking down one of the busiest and most well known characters in the food industry; Henrik Jeppesen, a man who, in his role as Technical Director, with responsibility for technical innovation and machinery procurement, knows a thing or two about slicing. |
In conjunction with Thurne Engineering, Tulip were right at the forefront of high speed slicing back in the 70s, when there was real pressure to produce accurate fixed weight packs, rather than catch weights, at high speed with accuracy. The only way to achieve this then was to weigh each pack by hand - a highly labour intensive operation.
Together with Thurne, triple track lines were introduced, providing the first steps towards fully automated bacon slicing lines. In the mid 1980s the first Vision slicer was developed. "That was some challenge," said Henrik. "We had to over-come many technical problems, like coping with the irregular shape of bacon. We got it right at the third attempt and I remember feeling quite relieved, as I had put my job on the line! But it was great fun too." That first machine is still innovation and quality of engineering that went into it, but because of the inadequate computer technology of the time, it was rather expensive.
The quest for more accuracy and fixed weights continued and yet more innovation followed with the introduction of the Predictive slicer. Jeppesen was pioneering again and he turned to Thurne for help with further development and manufacture.
This machine predicts the rasher thickness based on the density variations through the product, then calculates the desired fixed weight. It was -and still is - successful technology, but due to a shortage of money at the time, existing equipment was converted to the concept.
This 'held the fort' while computer technology caught up to make the Vision slicer more precise and viable. As weights, vision slicing provides benefits like better quality control and grading of sliced products.
AEW THURNE IBS Predictive Slicers and Polyslicers are integrated into slicing lines at the UK based Thetford and Wellingborough plants, producing bacon and cooked meat products. At Tulip's plant in Vejle, Denmark, three auto-matic lines, fed by IBS Vision slicers, are hard at work producing consumer and bulk packs of streaky bacon for the Scandinavian and European markets. Vejle is where the Vision slicer was developed and, says Henrik: "It's as good now as it was then."
The flexible Junior Slicer, also plays a key role in the production of cooked meats at Wellingborough and now, a SmartSlice 3D fresh meat portioner has been introduced at Thetford to produce fixed
Our all new Polyslicer Plus is also running at Wellingborough.
It's a formidable inventory and proof positive that our machines and people have done a good job over the years, but AEW THURNE are by no means resting on their laurels.
Henrik Jeppesen knows that there is no let up in the demand for even more accuracy, higher speeds, easy hygiene, increased capacity and quality control. He won't tolerate failure and he's tough on sup-pliers because he has to be. He says he needs people around him who have integrity and know what they are talking about. He rightly favours standardisation because it makes obvious sense to have his engineers trained on as few machines as possible. "You can't keep changing slicers," he says. Detail on engineering and quality is also important to him: "You can hear and feel quality and you don't have to keep re-inventing the wheel, but companies that don't keep innovating simply won't survive," he says.
On his relationship with AEW THURNE he concluded: "Our partnership goes back a long way. If I don't like what they say I'll tell them, but I'll say this - they always respond and they've never let me down."
He stressed that the future is in vision slicing and, with a glint in his eyes, said, "I have to think ahead all the time. I have a passion to pioneer." www.tulip.dk
