Kiwis and cherry tomatoes precisely portioned

In the modern logistics center in North Rhine-Westphalia, which is unique in Europe, the employees not only take care of the procurement, customs clearance and storage of fruit and vegetables, but also the individual processing, ripening and bundling of the goods. The approximately 100 employees of the logistics service provider face the daily challenge of packing the goods delivered in large quantities and packaging into standard sizes for supermarkets. For example, ginger is delivered from China in cartons weighing around 14 kilos each. On site, it has to be cut into 200 or 250 gram portions and repackaged.

Bivano was founded in 2014 as a subsidiary of the Böhmer Group in order to supplement the traditional company's portfolio with organically grown products. The company's motivation is to always guarantee the high quality and safety of its products. As a link between retailers and producers, Bivano cannot afford to compromise. Quality and customer satisfaction always have top priority. That is why Bivano attaches great importance to optimized work processes. Ideal, temperature-controlled storage conditions are just as important as a short dwell time for the goods and quality control before each delivery.

Quality at the right pace

For a long time, Bivano relied on normal stainless steel work tables to pack fruit and vegetables. "Our employees transported the goods there, unpacked the pieces and then transported the packaging to another location for weighing. This way of working was anything but ideal for our employees from an ergonomic point of view, and portioning took far too long," recalls Florian Floßdorf, warehouse manager at Bivano. "Under these circumstances, it was also difficult for us to assess how efficiently the staff were working. However, as a modern service provider, we are committed to freshness and are always looking for new ways to improve work processes and work sustainably and consciously on quality assurance."

The company therefore set out to find a portioning system with integrated scales and price labeling. A total of ten new workstations needed to be able to process the individual orders according to a specified cycle. Several of Bivano's partners recommended the Portion Control portioning solution from Bizerba. Floßdorf and his team also familiarized themselves with the offers of other suppliers. In the end, the solution from the traditional Swabian company prevailed due to its simple installation and convenient handling.

Ten portioning stations set up quickly

A Bizerba specialist helped with the commissioning of the ten portioning stations. Setting up the workstations was completed within a few hours, as no adjustments had to be made to the hardware. "This is another reason why Portion Control impressed us right from the start. We got a self-sufficient system 'out of the box' that can be used flexibly for all types of fruit and vegetables," summarizes Floßdorf.

Weight problems under control

For Floßdorf, one of the most important advantages is that many processes on the device run largely autonomously. This means that the employee no longer has to press a button or operate a foot pedal after each unit, as is common with the products of many other manufacturers. As the system has to function in a hygienic production environment, it also has IP68 protection. This means that the production flow via the terminal is possible even in wet and dusty conditions.