Customer Testimonial: Pearson Foods Runs ISB Bagger 18-22% Faster
Jun 19, 2023
Pearson Foods, an innovative fresh foods company located in Grand Rapids, MI, recently added the Hayssen ISB vertical form-fill-seal bagger to its fresh produce packaging lines, which also feature legacy Hayssen Ultima baggers.
After months of watching and measuring, Pearson determined that it can run the ISB bagger 18-22% faster than the other older machines on site.
Vice President of Operations, Jon Nelson, was particularly satisfied with the servo driven and smart abilities of the vertical FFS machine.
"We saw right away the benefits of this machine," Nelson said. "It was just a lot less interface by the operator/employee."
The Hayssen ISB, short for Intelligent Sanitary Bagger, can get set up quickly and easily. The Hayssen ISB's design is based entirely on customer feedback and requests for equipment with high ease of operation.
At Pearson Foods, the Hayssen ISB's operator who had no previous equipment operating experience, learned to effectively operate the ISB within 2 days of training. Training was made even easier as the ISB can be switched to Spanish with the simple push of a button.
"The machine is intuitive," Nelson said. This combination of intuitive design and ease of operation makes the challenges presented by labor shortage and high employee turnover a non-issue. Pearson's operator is a 19-year-old who started the operator position right out of high school with no experience in automation.
Additionally, Pearson is very satisfied with the technical support they received from BW Flexible Systems's teams. Not only only did the team expedite all shipping to Pearson, but when parts supply was affected, the team even removed parts from an existing machine at the BW Flexible facility and sent them to Pearson Foods.
In addition to ease of operation and the intuitive design, cleanability and practicality are two other factors through which BW Flexible convinced Pearson Foods.
Since there are practically no flat surfaces larger than one square inch, the Hayssen ISB prevents contaminants from building up. The whole machine is high-pressure washdown capable - no tarps needed - which makes the cleaning process extremely efficient and easy.
Secondly, the Hayssen ISB's lights help quickly detect the status of the machine.
"I can tell from anywhere in the shop where that ISB bagger is operationally," said Nelson. The clear guards help project the light - including red, blue, green, and white/yellow - each of which indicates a different status, ranging from stopped to automatic to waiting on material.
"Our Ultimas run every day. We've not had any issues with them, minimal upkeep. They just keep on running. And now with this ISB it's just an improvement on what we already had," Nelson said.
LEARN MORE
About the Hayssen ISB: www.bwflexiblesystems.com/machine/vertical-form-fill-seal/hayssen-isb
About BW Flexible Systems: www.bwflexiblesystems.com/our-company
About Pearson Foods: www.pearsonfoods.com/