The story of KM Frigo bv
KM Frigo is a proud family business in pet food, such as bites and sticks, for dogs. Where it started in 1997 with a first production site in Turkey, the Deventer-based company is today an established name in pet food. Characteristic of the product is its quality, namely pure meat instead of organ meat. The quality product has not gone unnoticed. Indeed, KM Frigo is in almost every shop with its pet food. From pet shops to retailers.
The product is also in demand outside the Netherlands. For instance, the product can be found at over 5,000 stores in England and is exported to many countries as Belgium, Germany and Scandinavia.
” By weighing semi-automatically we have quadrupled our production speed and reduced the number of employees from 10 to 5.”
A four-fold increase in packaging speed through semi-automatic weighing
Working closely with the owner of KM Frigo, a plan of action has been drawn up for the items below:
Efficiency improved by automation
KM Frigo was struggling with the inefficiency of their manual weighing processes. At six work tables, 10 employees worked to manually weigh pet food products between 50 and 55 grams. Small variations in these weighings resulted in variations of up to sometimes 5% per pack, which weighed significantly on costs given the high value of the pure meat-based products.
The company first made contact with LRE Solutions 12 years ago by purchasing two floor scales for frozen meat and fatty meat. Although there was no contact for a period of several years after this initial purchase, LRE came into the picture again when the company was looking for automation solutions.
The process of automating the packaging line began with LRE supplying 2 TSD-N3 multiheads, modified by Haak to integrate into the existing production line. This process took a year and required a significant investment, which initially raised doubts among decision-makers. In the end, Jan Hoek of LRE Solutions gave the decisive “push” to get started through his convincing commitment. From approval to actual deliveries, the process took about six months.
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From 12 to 15 to an average of 40 packs per minute
After integrating the 2 new multiheads, the benefits became immediately apparent: significant cost savings and higher output. The line speed increased to an average of 40 packs per minute, considerably more than the previous 12 to 15 packs per minute. By automating, direct savings were made on labour costs. On the current line, there are 5 employees. Compared to 10 in the old situation, a saving of 5 workers. It also immediately minimised the give-away rate and eliminated the risk of incorrect weights. Based on preset weights, the TSD-N3 multihead automatically makes the correct product combination, as close to the target weight as possible.
The positive results and efficiency improvements convinced the company to invest further in a second line and possible expansion to a new location. The cooperation with LRE Solutions and Haak not only increased production capacity, but also strengthened confidence in further automation. KM Frigo now looks optimistically towards further growth and innovation in the near future.
