Asparagus producer Cobrey Farms has achieved a three per cent reduction in ‘giveaway’ and a five per cent reduction in labour.
Cobrey Farms, asparagus grower, packer and supplier to the major supermarkets including Marks & Spencer, Tesco and Sainsbury’s, has enlisted weigh label specialist Herbert to help achieve its goals.
Chris Chinn, Cobrey Farms packhouse manager, said: “Due to the product and pack formats, it is difficult to control giveaway with asparagus. However, it was clear that we needed to increase our production efficiencies as well as be more flexible to help drive sales off the supermarket shelves.”
Installing a Herbert Savaweigh scale system allowed Cobrey Farms to drive down its giveaway by dynamically controlling the required average weight by using easy-to-read visual light indicators on the scales.
According to Herbert, this delivered a complete average weight solution in not only complying with the reporting of average weight legislation, but also dramatically reducing the giveaway on a high-value product.
Additional benefits are also gained from the touch-screen monitor in the production area, which shows a graphical representation of production performance.
With the weight target issues now resolved, the next goal was to provide a labelling system that could offer accuracy while being flexible enough to enable them to enhance the presentation of the pack with promotional labels when required, and additional information to educate the end user on, for example, how to cook the product.
Previously, this was printed on the reverse of a label that could only be read once the pack had been purchased and opened. Now, a separate label applied to the base of the pack can be used to educate the end user.
Chinn added: “Herbert has provided us with a labelling system that is comfortably printing and applying up to four labels per pack at 120ppm. The reliability and service support from Herbert is paramount to the success of the project - if it is not totally reliable, all benefits are lost. With a five per cent reduction in labour and a three per cent reduction in giveaway, we will achieve payback with the Herbert system within one season, which with the asparagus season being only a couple of months long is testimony to the effectiveness of the equipment and systems that we have installed.”
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