Price pressure forces automation

07-Feb-2005 - Last updated on 12-Apr-2010 at 09:44 GMT

As margins decline and competition increases ready meals producers need to adopt flexible -- but lower cost -- production techniques. Susan Birks investigates whether it is better to take on more labour or to automate

While celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay may be able to charge around £40 for his recently launched gourmet ready meal of braised belly of pork with pomme puree au moutarde, sadly the same is not the case for most manufacturers. The price of most ready meals is moving rapidly downwards due to fierce competition among the major retailers.

But the retailers call the shots and they want new healthy recipes, longer shelf-life, better packaging quality -- all at lower cost.

The good news is that demand for ready meals is still rising, particularly as convenience and discount stores now look to compete with supermarkets in offering them. And the market is by no means saturated.

According to market researcher TNS, while over 80% of households have bought ready meals at some time, the average household only buys 15 a year, leaving plenty of scope to increase sales.

The greatest opportunity is in tailoring meals to different eating occasions. In its report Meals as snacks, Datamonitor highlights a trend for lighter meals, which are being eaten either as a snack or office lunch. It says that by 2008, four in 10 meals will be 'light' and it suggests manufacturers could tailor existing ready meals to meet this demand.

Market opportunities are there, but when the likes of Asda promotes five frozen ready meals for a total of £3.00, margins are tight.

Neil Ashton, sales manager of Packaging Automation, says even high quality ready meals are becoming a promotion- driven commodity and manufacturers are having to find new ways of making savings: "Margins have gone out of ready meals right the way through the sector. There used to be room for niche market products, but even those are feeling the pressure."

As a result, companies are looking to cut costs by making efficiency improvements. "Even the bigger companies that could get away with some wastage, are struggling now," says Ashton.

One problem producers face is that recipe development activity is at an all-time high, with companies presenting a raft of new meals to retail customers each season. But this means the length of time a meal is likely to be listed is also diminishing. Those that don't become an immediate hit can be de-listed in as little as six weeks.

To make these products, chilled or frozen, on a just-in-time basis, manufacturers need greater line flexibility. "Few companies can now justify having dedicated lines -- unless you are producing something like cottage pie or lasagne where demand will always be there," says Ashton. He adds, "Most companies need to have lines that can run several different products."

Some of the larger manufacturers are already running two product ranges on one line -- known as bean sprouting -- by having more than one depositor. This means the protein, such as chicken, is placed in the tray first, then different sauces can be deposited in alternate trays.

The development of more specialised filling lines is a trend highlighted by Dave Edwards of D2 Food Systems. "Equipment developers are now looking at machines for depositing noodles and rice, which are more difficult than sauces," says Edwards.

Other producers are investing in equipment that will add speed and flexibility to their packaging operations. Kettleby Foods, which produces a range of traditional stews and casseroles has, for example, installed two Proseal F45 tray sealers, which work in combination to deliver speeds of 90 trays a minute. A tray diverger and converger, also supplied by Proseal, enables trays to be directed to either sealer and then revert to a single line for checkweighing and metal detection. This provides the flexibility to run two or more products simultaneously.

Faster line speeds are frequently requested but they are harder to achieve in the context of shorter runs says Ashton: "Today we are experiencing average speeds of 50-60 trays a minute but more and more manufacturers want speeds of around 100. Some of the faster, dedicated lines can already get up to 200 a minute."

The increase in line speeds must not be made at the expense of product quality either. "An even spread of sauce or potato is particularly important in something like lasagne or cottage pie where it has to cover whole of the tray yet not go over the edges where it may compromise the seal," says Ashton. Failure of tray seals is something the retailers are becoming increasingly tough on.

Manual vs automation

Flexible production has traditionally involved a larger labour force but cheap labour is increasingly hard to find and retain, forcing companies to use more casual and contract migrant workers shipped in by agencies. But as economics change, this cheap labour may not be around forever. New legislation is already making such labour increasingly costly.

Someone who has looked at the potential of automation and robots to take labour costs out of the process is Professor John Gray of Salford University. He believes strongly that automation is possible and feels that -- as with the automotive and other industries -- it will come to food eventually.

But he admits the challenge is greater in food production as, unlike car or electronic components, foods are soft, fragile and variable in size and shape. But Gray says robots that can grip and place items as delicate as pieces of tomato or cucumber have already been developed. In fact, a robot has been developed which is portable, can be sited and set up quickly and can mimic simple human movements. Gray is hoping that companies will look at what the robot can do and so change their perception about automation.

The main obstacle is that robots are expensive and, unlike car manufacturers, food producers may not be making a product for long enough to achieve the required payback. The harsh conditions of frequent cleandowns also makes the design of robots more costly.

Other factors also come into play. Labour, can be quickly redeployed on a manual line to clear any blockage should one arise, whereas a blockage on an automated system may mean shutting down the line.

On the other hand, there are advantages of using robots: they can work at temperatures down to 1°C which is uncomfortable for humans; they do not make claims for repetitive strain injury; and they can improve hygiene standards.

Gray hopes to get a consortium of suppliers and manufacturers interested enough to progress further automation projects (see http://www.afm-net.com for details).

Longer shelf-life

Other areas of development are in extending product shelf-life. This is something the retailers are keen to have -- but they don't want more additives appearing on their clean label declarations. Some increases in shelf-life are being achieved through new packaging materials with improved barrier properties and oxygen scavenging properties.

New packaging, such as the retortable pouch, also have a role to play, says David Bodily of Liberty Process. As a supplier of equipment capable of pasteurising retort pouches, he sees this technology fulfilling the demand for additive-free longer shelf-life products. "It takes less time to get the heat through the product in a pouch compared with a can and faster pasteurisation means a better product quality at the end," he says.

While he admits the pouch may never replace the can on high-speed lines, he believes for smaller niche products it does have its benefits. The company has just installed a line for a ready meal producer in the North East that plans to launch a new range of classic regional dishes in pouches at the IFE show next month.

Both Bodily and D2's Edwards see investment in continuous cook and cool machines as a growing area. Most of the development work on such equipment has been carried out in the US where larger volumes have justified the investment. But pasta dishes are seeing renewed growth in the UK ready meals sector with more and higher quality products being introduced. Cost efficiencies along with gentle product handling mean continuous cook and cool machines are being looked at by more UK manufacturers.

Such systems also improve hygiene standards; something retailers also want to see. In fact one major retailer was involved in the design of D2's latest Vortex system. They are also increasingly involved in manufacturers' equipment purchasing decisions. Edwards believes their influence in equipment design is a good thing: "They are experts in problem areas, and that expertise has helped in the success of the new equipment."

The last bastion of manual labour is working either front of the line, loading trays, or end of line, packing. Today, de-nesting, sleeving and cartoning are all areas that companies are looking to automate, says Edwards.

While full automation is often still viewed as too expensive to implement, Gray believes the threat of moving production offshore to cheaper countries will help manufacturers to focus their attention on automation's many advantages in future. FM