Meat&Poultry -- April 2014 - 62

AutomAtion

scheduled to begin operating within weeks. "Finished-

ham, capacola ham and salami. Each kit makes six sub

and-boxed products from all five processing lines will be

sandwiches. This entry marked the fourth addition to

conveyed from processing across the street through an

Land O'Frost's Sub Sandwich Kit line. The 18-oz. kit

enclosed overhead tunnel to our central, automated pal-

contains 48 slices of meat.

letizing system and freezer," Maas said.

The packaging for this new line is as exciting as the

Two articulating-arm robots palletize boxes, which

products inside. Bill Marion, Land O'Frost vice presi-

then move and index pallets into the final storage freez-

dent of manufacturing, explained the meat is thin-sliced

er prior to shipping. Automated cranes transport pal-

in a shingle format and placed on interleaf paper for ease

let loads of boxed product up and down the lanes of this

of handling. The interleaved shingles of meat are stacked

multi-level freezer.

separately in the package by flavor to allow the consumer
to utilize the four flavors on the sandwich in any combina-

Sandwich automation

tion. "Because of the interleaved presentation, each por-

Early in 2012, Lansing, Ill.-based Land O'Frost Inc. an-

tion of product can be conveniently laid out on a six-inch

nounced a national partnership with Scottsdale, Ariz.-

sub roll," Marion adds. "The six sandwich packages are

based Blimpie to offer the new Land O'Frost Blimpie's Best

sealed in modified atmosphere packaging with a double-

Sub Sandwich Kit. Product began rolling out in March

zip feature for maximum shelf-life and recloseable con-

that year. The Land O'Frost Blimpie's Best Sub Sand-

venience for the consumer."

wich Kit contains four meats used in Blimpie's popular

The company also offers Wrap Kits, which take the

Blimpie Best sandwich - prosciutto cotto ham, smoked

Sub Kit concept one step further, providing the components for five complete wraps in a single package, he
adds. The Sub Kits are manufactured in Land O'Frost's

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Searcy, Ark., facility while the Wrap Kits are made at the
company's Lansing, Ill., plant.
Wrap Kit packaging includes five interleaved portions of
meat in a sealed recloseable package, five slices of cheese in
a sealed package and five tortillas, also in their own sealed

IN THIS $140 BILLION INDUSTRY A GOOD LABEL APPROVAL
CAN CREATE $500,000 TO OVER $5,000,000 IN SALES.

package. "The three inner packages are then placed in

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our familiar double-zipper, recloseable package to allow
she makes all five wraps to feed the family in one sitting
several days," Marion says.
Lines from which the plants run these products on
were designed and laid out specifically for these applications, Marion explains. "They are complex lines that are
state-of-the-art from both a production and food-safety
perspective," he adds. "Because of the number of different formats, meat components and slice counts across the
line, production rates vary slightly."
Plans to further automate these lines to allow greater
throughput were being evaluated.
Looking forward, expect meat and poultry companies
to continue the never-ending search for new automation
to help their businesses be more efficient, productive and
profitable while at the same time meeting and surpassing
customer product demands. ■

* Meat&Poultry * April 2014 * www.MeatPoultry.com

http://www.hurson.com http://www.MeatPoultry.com

Meat&Poultry -- April 2014

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