Advancing Automation in the Food Industry

The world today has a very large population that has to eat daily. To accommodate this huge basic need, the food industry is large, with millions of restaurants, grocery stores, supermarkets, convenience stores, markets, factories, warehouses, storage providers, transport systems, farms, and many other kinds of businesses and operations that make up food processing and getting food to consumers.

At Forpak, we play our own role in the food industry, supporting automated processing systems with custom, innovative solutions. Our team of skilled engineers and technicians builds unique automated systems for the meat, bakery, and pizza industries. Our designs are smart systems that reduce waste, speed up the production schedule, eliminate human contamination, and streamline the processing system overall. We fabricate automated equipment that has complete wash-down capabilities for the best food safety practices.

Our automated equipment for food processing and packaging includes stackers, laners, conveyors, counting systems, autotransfers, wrappers, sorters, and more. We also work with clients who have custom needs to build a system that can be easily integrated into existing facilities.

Automation in the food industry is a necessity, especially when today’s average consumer expects to find most food products readily all year round. The industry works in bulk for the majority of goods, whether they are fresh, frozen, refrigerated, or dry. Automation plays an important role in making the processing of such bulk of products faster, cleaner, and more precisely.

Forpak’s equipment allows customers to integrate improvements in their automation systems. With our food packaging technologies, customers can benefit from the following:

  1. Reduction of labor costs: Forpak equipment has recorded up to a 30%-50% reduction in labor costs in facilities of all sizes. Our automated food packaging equipment eliminates the need for human workers in many places along the production line, which saves money in labor costs and in production overall.
  2. Elimination of human contamination: Because our equipment removes the need for human workers in many places on the production line, Forpak packing systems eliminate many sources of human contamination. This supports the best food safety practices and completely improves production results.
  3. Increase of production speed and precision: With Forpak automated processing systems, you’ll see high increases in the speed of your production line with rapid autotransfers, sorters, stackers, and more. In addition to speed, precision is also improved so packing mistakes and other errors are avoided.
  4. Reduction of workers’ compensation claims: Forpak equipment significantly minimizes the need for the repetitive motion that notoriously leads to workers’ compensation claims. This does save labor costs, but more importantly, protects your workers and improves the quality of their work environment.

Our specialized designs help customers of all kinds in the food industry improve and advance their automation capabilities. To learn more about our equipment, contact Forpak at (612) 419-1948 or forpaksupport@multisourcemfg.com. Request more information online today or request a quote  to get started with us today.

Industry Certifications and Quality Control in Manufacturing

At MultiSource Manufacturing LLC, we work with many different types of equipment and tools for a wide variety of industries. We also have multiple facilities in several locations, each with state-of-the-art manufacturing equipment, skilled technicians, and knowledgeable engineers. MultiSource is a well-established contract manufacturing provider, and a large part of our continued operations since 1998 is our commitment to quality control. Quality in all our products is our ultimate goal, and because we meet that goal every time, MultiSource is an industry-leading provider of comprehensive build services.

Our quality control practices include prototyping, finishing services, and diagnostics for final testing of a completed component or full assemblies. All our quality practices follow strict regulations and meet requirements for several certifications.

Our current industrial certifications for quality control include:

ISO 9001: ISO (International Organization for Standardization) certifications cover many different types of industrial and commercial operations. Our ISO 9001 certification means that we are dedicated to providing the best quality services and products possible. The certification is a public acknowledgement of our quality control practices. The details of ISO 9001 make up a ten-section certification process covering context, leadership, planning, operations, performance, and continual improvement. This certification is a general quality-focused accreditation for many types of businesses. For MultiSource, an ISO 9001 certification shows our clients that we’re committed to implementing an effective quality assurance program for all of our projects and continual improvement of all our operations.

ISO 13485: This ISO certification was developed for the medical device industry. It’s almost always paired with an ISO 9001 quality management certification. While an ISO 9001 certificate requires us to show our continued commitment to improving our operations and quality of results, the ISO 13485 requires us to show that the system we use to manufacture any parts or assemblies that will be used in the medical device industry specifically is effective. This means we adapt our medical device manufacturing to all industry regulations, safety protocol, traceability, precision, documentation, and all other legal requirements of the US FDA.

AS-9100D: This certification is also paired with ISO 9001, but it’s specific to the aerospace, aviation, defense, and space industries. These industries, like the medical device industry, have international standards and regulations that demand high precision and the use of specialized materials. The AS-9100D certification works in the same way as ISO 13485 does for the medical device industry, but for the aerospace and related industries instead. Our AS-9100D certificate shows our customers that we meet highly strict standards for the production of complex and advanced components and full assemblies for the aerospace, defense, and space industries.

All our certifications are a testament to our maintained and continually improved quality control practices. To learn more about our services and our quality management, contact MultiSource Manufacturing LLC at (952) 456-5500. You can request more information or request a quote to get started with us today.