GEA SmartPacker wins on ease of use and reliability

Managing Director Edgar Meeuwissen

The GEA SmartPacker form, fill and seal machine hasdemonstrated its extremely high reliability in foodpackaging applications. It is compact, user friendly, fastand able to create a wide variety of bag shapes – includingpillow bags, quatro seal, block bottom, quatro box,envelope and zipper bags. Bergia Frites, an innovativeproducer of quality French fries and other natural potatoproducts, recently installed two high speed GEASmartPacker CX360 machines in its new production facilityin Roermond (The Netherlands).

Bergia Frites is a family business that stretches back almost eightyyears. It was founded by Managing Director Edgar Meeuwissen’sgrandfather in 1931, who traded in potatoes, eggs and butter inthe southern part of the Netherlands and over the border inGermany. By the mid-sixties, when the founder’s two sons tookover, the company started adding value to potatoes by preparingand packaging French fries for the emerging snack bar market. Inthe early days, everything was done by hand, achieving an outputof fifteen 10-kilogram boxes per hour. With an eight-day shelflife, and many cafeterias taking up to 60 boxes per week, thebusiness grew.

FOCUS SHIFTS TO POTATOES AND AUTOMATIONBy 1972, the company had stopped selling butter and eggs tofocus exclusively on potato products. Edgar takes up the story,“We knew we had to start automating the process, and movedto a new location in Roermond. We added frozen French fries to

the range in 1987 and bought our first vertical packagingmachines in the early nineties.” Today’s product range includesstandard fresh and frozen French fries for deep fat frying as wellas products for cooking in a regular oven, microwave oven,combi-steam oven and grill. Although most of the output is forthe professional market, some products are packaged forsupermarket chains including private labels as Carrefour andTesco. The company produces 10 to 12 tons per hour and exportsall over the world.

RUGGEDNESS, STABILITY AND USER-FRIENDLINESSBergia Frites is currently moving to a new larger site, and theexpansion plans called for two new vertical packaging machinesto join the four existing machines. The company invited fourmanufacturers to show their latest continuous form, fill and sealpackaging machines. After intensive investigation, thepreference for GEA was made on the basis of ruggedness,flexibility, high capacity, user friendliness and Total Cost ofOwnership. Edgar, who evaluated the machines together withhis Head of Technical Services, selected the GEA SmartPackerCX360 after reference visits to other companies using thismachine and demonstrations in the Technology Center at GEA inWeert (The Netherlands). Edgar continues, “I was impressed bythe proven 99% uptime, making it the most reliable machine onthe market. It is also very easy to operate. Our operators quicklylearned to use them, and are able to optimize the machine’sperformance”.

engineering for a better world GEA Food Solutions

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PRODUCTION MUST BE READY!In the French fries business, (freshly harvested) potatoes shouldbe processed within five hours at a maximum after being loadedon the truck to preserve taste and quality. Processing takesaround an hour. Edgar again, “A batch is usually shippedimmediately after it’s processed, so production must be ready. Ifa packaging machine breaks down unexpectedly, my costsincrease dramatically. The margins on this type of product aremoderate, so I simply cannot afford unplanned stoppages. TheGEA machines meet my reliability requirements with ease.”

“I cannot afford unplanned stoppages.The GEA machines meet my reliabilityrequirements with ease.”

CAPACITY IS ALSO IMPORTANTAnother important performance parameter for Bergia Frites iscapacity. Edgar expects to double the speed of packaging. “I planto package this volume in half the time it previously took, and itlooks like we are succeeding.”

Bergia packages fries from 100 gr up to 5 kg pillow bags

PERFORMANCE MONITORING SOFTWAREThe two GEA SmartPacker CX360 machines are installed in lineswith high speed weighers and case packers. Bergia has alsoinstalled GEA TiroLabel labelers and the packaging machineshave GEA CostFox software. This powerful tool identifiespotential areas of improvement, so operators can optimize theway their machines run. It shows production figures, comparesthem with key performance indicators and identifies all processinterruptions. “This will help our operators contribute toimprovements by acting upon events that affect performance.”

GEA SMARTPACKER CXThe GEA SmartPacker CX (with continuous film transport) isavailable for bag widths of 180, 250 and 360 mm. The CX360model featured here can handle bag lengths of up to 550 mmand has a maximum speed of 120 bags per minute.

GEA Food Solutions

GEA Food Solutions Weert B.V.

P.O. Box 296, 6000 AG - De Fuus 8, 6006 RV Weert, The NetherlandsTel. +31 (0)495 457 777, Fax +31 (0)495 524 126gea-foodsolutions.info@gea.com, www.gea.com

As a result of constant improvement, drawings and specifications of GEA Food Solutions

machines and software are subject to change. Some features and/or equipment mentioned in this

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