WE WILL
America’s consumption
of bacon and bacon
products is, in common with many other
parts of the world, showing an increase of
considerable proportions.
This upward trend
looks set to continue as changing lifestyles and the resultant demand
for fast food dishes like BLT sandwiches, hamburgers and so many other
dishes that include bacon as a ‘condiment’ or flavour enhancer,
push annual production levels to around 2 billion pounds
Now, it goes without saying that where there’s demand there’s
a supplier and they don’t come much bigger or better than Bar-S – a
processor who, since being founded only 21 years ago, has become one
of the top 40 meat processors in the USA. From its 3 Oklahoma based production
plants plus a distribution facility, the company markets over 100 processed
meat products including franks, sliced luncheon meat, smoked sausage,
specialty sausage and, of course sliced bacon.
Bar-S owes its impressive success to a powerful ‘WE WILL’ philosophy
that anyone can find on their website, www.bar-s.com. One of the most
notable ‘we wills’ is number 5: WE WILL develop close partnerships
with our customers and suppliers, with the attitude that “we succeed
only when they succeed.” By the way, we know full well that when
Bar-S says they will, believe us, they do!
As if to underline this belief, every product pack carries an important
message. It reads, ‘Only the best is branded Bar-S.’
But, back to the bacon boom, which Bar-S are determined to take full
advantage of with a quality product, excellent marketing and some equally
impressive bacon slicing technology from AEW Delford Systems.
Bar-S has just installed an AEW Delford Systems automatic bacon line
comprising an IBS 2000 Vision high speed slicer linked to an automatic
loading system. The system produces drafts of fixed weight slices and
delivers them straight to a vacuum packing machine. If required, the
slicer can be switched to produce drafts of fixed or variable numbers
of slices but the norm is 12 oz. and 1lb. packs.
The IBS 2000 Vision is one of the world’s fastest and most accurate,
continuous feed, automatic bacon slicers. Thanks to its angled product
bed and patented twin jump conveyor it consistently delivers high quality,
shingles at high speed. The machine has a unique vision system that uses
a high speed camera to scan the leading face of the product before slicing.
It measures the product area and its lean/fat ratio then adjusts the
thickness of the next slice. This provides minimum giveaway while maximizing
the percentage of on weight portions to give the best possible yields
with high throughput.
The whole system has a high level of automation which minimizes product
handling and therefore makes the most of precious skilled labour time.
Loading and programming are simple tasks too, thanks to easy to understand
controls and straightforward, robust
engineering. The system has also been designed for fast and easy cleaning
and special cleaning trolleys were made for this purpose. All in all,
a system designed to deliver a high percentage of quality packed product
with a minimum of waste.
All this and, perhaps, our well deserved reputation for fast, comprehensive
service and spares, is why Bar-S believed us when we said WE WILL.
