Blakemans invest into their future

Blakemans expand their investment into machinery to keep Up with Customer demand.

Blakemans are continually expanding and updating their manufacturing systems throughout their factory to keep up with increasing customer demand. They have recently invested over 2 million pounds on a bespoke, advanced system which collates our most popular product, the frozen Jumbo Sausage, then picks and packs them with efficiency and precision every time without the need of human interaction.

As the industry leading supplier of sausages into the fish & chip industry, Jumbo sausages are produced in vast quantities throughout their 24-hour operation. Whilst the production of these tasty delicacies requires no special treatment, once frozen the length of a jumbo sausage leaves it prone to breakage and in need of great care and vast amounts of manual handling to pack. It was clear to the team that a new packing system was needed to reduce waste, reduce manual handling and maintain the levels of quality that their customers are accustomed to, all within a condensed area.

A partnership was formed between GEA and Valec, two European companies that are experts in their field, they worked together for nearly two years in which they created two parts to a machine that works in unity that uses centrifugal force to collate, then robotic arms to pick and pack into the packaging that is created by the GEA Thermo-former. This system is set up to pack 3000 kilo of Jumbo Sausage per hour, which equates to over 26,000 sausages. On top of reducing the health and safety risks to staff from manual handling and bolstering their already rigorous food safety standards, the Valec robotics system has also unlocked further versatility in packing options, opening up retail possibilities for Blakemans in the future.

As the demand for, not only Jumbo sausages, but all meat products continue to grow at Blakemans they continue to look into ways of advancing their product development and manufacturing to adapt to customer’s briefs. Now with the help of advancing technology they can modernise production processes with machinery like their most recent investment, the Handtmann FS520 8 Lane Forming System, this versatile machine allows meat products such as burgers, patties, meatballs and many more to be formed to perfection every time.

The system is set up so when the meat mix is passed through it gets moulded into any shape required, holds consistent weight control and has multilane uniformity which increases the hourly volume. This Forming System is capable of forming a wide range of different meat products which opens up the future of possible product expansion at Blakemans and we are excited to see how Blakemans continues to evolve.