The new Pneumatic Two-Way Cuber helps manufacturers maintain profitability in the face of rising costs by maximizing the amount of usable product and labor efficiency.
The food manufacturing industry is dealing with unprecedented times. Perhaps the biggest concern is the consistent increase in costs. The USDA reported in its Food Price Outlook in June that for 2022, “all food prices are now predicted to increase between 8.5 and 9.5%, food-away-from-home prices are predicted to increase between 6.5 and 7.5%, and food-at-home prices are predicted to increase between 10.0 and 11.0%.” That increase is directly related to increased costs food manufacturers are suffering from throughout the supply chain. Forbes’ Kelly Anne Smith writes that the rise is being caused by a perfect storm of global and domestic issues such as the war in Ukraine, high energy costs exacerbated by the war, and, of course, lingering effects from the pandemic that disrupted the supply chain, and the continued impacts on China, which is the largest exporter of goods.
On top of all of that, Stephanie Ferguson, Director, Global Employment Policy & Special Initiatives for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce reports, “Right now, the latest data shows that we have over 10 million job openings in the U.S.—but only around 6 million unemployed workers.” Having to deal with high costs and not being able to easily find new employees means food manufacturers have to be smart with what they have. And for cheese processors, there’s nothing smarter than having a Deville Technologies Pneumatic Two-Way Cuber.
The Pneumatic Two-Way Cuber is designed to take blocks of cheese and reduce them into specific sizes to optimally feed dicers, centrifugal shredders and other equipment. It does this via two pneumatic pistons (servo actuators are also available) which execute the main cuts through an array of bladed harps or wires (product specific). The additional guillotine feature facilitates processing large batches of off cuts and trims as well as soft cheeses. Via the local HMI, the operator sends the blocks along the wide belt and into the chamber that is also a larger size—both of which are perfect for processing non-standard cheese sizes. Not only is the Pneumatic Two-Way Cuber unfazed by soft cheese, it also processes the offcuts in a streamlined manner that reduces loss percentages of product—and every bit of product needs to be used to maximize profitability.
“A lot of cheese producers have different kinds of SKUs, and these will inherently create some form of cheese waste,” says Felice Siciliano, Deville Technologies’ Area Sales Manager – Europe. “If these offcuts aren’t processed correctly, the producer is losing money every time they run a different SKU. Our machine allows producers to reintroduce these offcuts back into their processing line in a very easy and convenient way.”
Including this type of Cuber in a processing line provides a viable solution to the current labor shortage. A typical Cuber requires the help of an operator to stack or bundle the cut offs for each cuber cycle. Deville’s Pneumatic Two-Way Cuber does not require human intervention thereby allowing an operator to tend to other important operational tasks, which add up during three 8-hour shifts per day. Deville Technologies’ solution streamlines and automates the entire process which allows processors to maximize both operator and operational efficiency.
“This machine was borne out of the need to process offcuts,” says Siciliano. “When we were designing it, one of our main goals was labor efficiency. The less time an operator spends on one specific task, the more time they have to do something else, whether that’s staging the next two blocks of cheese, unboxing feeding plans or whatever the case is. But the most important thing is reducing the time that the operator’s babysitting one portion. The ideal was not to have the operator standing there and waste time watching the machine do what it’s supposed to do.”
Deville’s Pneumatic Two-Way Cuber not only benefits manufacturers with its efficiency and labor savings, it also comes with Deville’s long history of hygienic products and customer service. Deville focuses on offering expert solutions, taking a holistic approach to putting together innovative client solutions to clients cut costs.
Hygiene is of special importance. “Our philosophy is ‘as long as you can see it, you can clean it.’ One recall can be very expensive for any company, both from a reputation and a financial standpoint; we try to make every potential trouble spot as visible as possible,” says Siciliano. Extra effort is put into creating welds so smooth that two pieces of metal look like one. All covers are removable, there are no open threads, as few fasteners as possible are used unless absolutely necessary, meaning there are only a few bolts in the entire machine—all so that the task of cleaning any part Deville Technologies’ machine is among the easiest in the industry. “We’re leaders in hygienic design—we take that to heart,” says Siciliano.
“We’re a very client-centric company,” says Siciliano, “so you know that you’re always going to get the support you need. And in terms of the machine itself, there aren’t many machines that will be able to process the amount of cheese with the efficiency and minimal loss as our machine. We have a winning product.”