Tradition meets high tech - Award-winning bacon curer and butcher Ramsay works with Bizerba A510 slicers

What happens when production methods, tried and tested over hundreds of years, encounter state-of-the-art technology? Under ideal circumstances, it can result in powerful synergy for more efficient production processes – as it did with Ramsay’s. The family business located in Carluke, in Scotland’s beautiful Clyde Valley, has been producing quality cured bacon and ham for over 150 years, selling their goods at the company’s own outlet, as well as to selected dealers, hotels and restaurants. Recently, Ramsay’s began working with the intelligent A510 slicer from the Bizerba Company, headquartered in South-West Germany and specialised in advanced weighing, information and food-service technologies.

“Our company philosophy is based on quality instead of quantity. This also applies to the machines and equipment we buy. They need to be rugged and well equipped to take on many years of hard work,” explains managing director Andrew Ramsay. The company has been working with Bizerba slicers for several years. As soon as the A510 came onto the market, Ramsay’s began preliminary testing in house. “It quickly became clear to us that the new slicer, which intelligently combines a slicer, scales and suitable software, could lead to significant savings in product giveaway,” added Ramsay.

The A510 slices the meat directly onto its integrated scale. A software program continuously compares cut weight with target weight, regulating slice thickness during the slicing process. “Even natural products such as bacon or ham can be sliced with high-level precision. The percentage of giveaway product is thus reduced considerably,” explains Andreas Gmelin, Director of Food Processing at Bizerba. For products with a kilogram price of 11 Euros and sales of 10 tons per month, users can save up to 11,000 Euros monthly. “On a yearly basis, we’re talking about savings of 130,000 Euros, which go directly towards profit. Return on investment can be achieved incredibly quickly.” In fact, the slicer almost finances itself.

Since 1857, little has changed with regards to the quality of Ramsay’s bacon and ham, and the successful company’s traditional preparation methods and recipes. Nonetheless, Ramsay’s continue to maintain and further enhance the highest standards in processing and refrigeration, to fulfil today’s ever-increasing standards of hygiene and to improve efficiency. The A510 fits in beautifully with these developments.

The A510 is easy to operate, clean and maintain. The knife can be sharpened directly on the machine and cleaned quickly and easily, without the need for disassembly. The machine’s ergonomic design, low tray and optimal conveyor height all contribute to making operation a pleasure. The touch screen with colour LCD display is clearly laid out and enables intuitive operation – even for untrained personnel. “The type of meat to be sliced, the number of slices, the number of portions, spacing and shape of work surface can all be defined variably and set in the menu. The integration of the scale into the slicing and portioning process speeds up workflow considerably. “This is of great benefit to our production”, says Ramsay.

Since Bizerba is also a traditional, family-run business, “we are delighted that proven approaches and the latest technologies can come together this smoothly, creating significant synergy for our customers”, highlights Gmelin.

About Bizerba:

Bizerba is a worldwide operating technology company offering professional system solutions for weighing, labelling, information and food field engineering in the sectors of retail, the food and manufacturing industries and logistics. Sector-specific hard and software, high-performing network compatible management systems as well as a wide range of labels and consumables as well as business services ensure the transparent control of integrated business processes and a high level of availability of Bizerba-specific service features.

Worldwide, Bizerba has a presence in over 120 countries with investments in 41companies in 23 countries and subsidiaries in 56 countries. Company turnover in 2008 stood at around 433 million euro. The company’s headquarters – with around 3100 employees – is in Balingen; further manufacturing plants are located in Meßkirch, Bochum, Vienna (Austria), Pfäffikon (Switzerland), Mailand (Italy), Shanghai (China), Forest Hill (USA) und San Louis Potosi (Mexico).

Contact:

Bizerba GmbH & Co. KG
Claudia Gross
Director Global Marketing and Communication
Wilhelm-Kraut-Straße 64
D-72336 Balingen
Germany
Telephone +49 7433 12-33 00
Fax +49 7433 12-5 33 00
E-mail: claudia.gross@bizerba.com

This release was published on openPR.