Destack. Pack. Repeat.

2.5 million of several individual loads in the same tray. This enables the slicer to load cheese and salami into the same tray.” The Step Loader offers an in-line compact solution to handle high capacities at high speeds, due to an innovative tray handling design.

More than 2.5 million portions of minced meat are packed every day on QUPAQ production lines.

The other significant machine is the ANYTRAY pneumatic denester. It is designed for production flows of up to 120 trays per minute, the go-to choice for food producers who want the full advantages of packing automation.

“We have fast changeover times when shifting to other tray sizes,” Mr Weidemann explained, “and we have very good run times on the machines. They are quite steady in their performance; they don't demand a lot of maintenance or spare parts. They are simple and quite easy to operate, to maintain and to wash down. So, both in operation and hygiene we are excelling.”

The future

There has no doubt been a lot of exciting activity happening at QUPAQ in the last few years. But has the company been impacted by disruptions in the global supply chain?

“There's been some turbulence,” Mr Weidemann reflected, “mostly on the electrical side, where the supply chain is long, and we depend on supplies from large electronic companies. But we haven't been hard hit. I think it looks like things are easing up and I don't think that will be a major challenge going forward.”

The company is not standing still. Like any successful business, it is constantly looking for ways to adapt, evolve and innovate.

“We’re still discovering new ideas,” said Mr Weidemann. “Like ‘how we can better assist our clients with their ease of operation?’ We are looking into what the next generation of denesters will deliver. And then, ‘what about the next generation of loading systems? What do they look like?’ Then I think we will do improvements on the sales-tools we give to our partners, to ease their inter - action with us as a company. To make things smoother.”

QUPAQ have delivered several customtailored solutions including elevators, where the trays are loaded into the buffer from a different floor, high-speed solutions with 320 products loaded per minute and several unique handling solutions. All based on off-the-shelf technology customised for specific applications.

As the CEO pointed out, since the merger, QUPAQ is a still new company. But the results seem to be paying dividends. “Succeeding in this and monitoring the progress from day-today, week-to-week, month-to-month, is very fulfilling,” Mr Weidemann concluded. “We have seen steady improvement of the company processes. It is quite cool to watch and to be a part of.” n