Located in the German state of Hesse, Kurhessische Fleischwaren GmbH offers its customers a complete range of high-quality meat products. In the company’s production plant, the Weber-Slicer type 604, suitable for cutting and portioning the most different meat products, has been in place for approx. four months now. In this Die Fleischerei field test, master butcher Erich Michel talks about his experiences with that flexible piece of equipment.
A slicer for all applications
“We have a clearly defined quality request: Above all, only the best!”, are the words chosen by master butcher Erich Michel, business manager of Kurhessische Fleischwaren GmbH, to not only refer to the products manufactured by his company, but also to the underlying premise that. “We can only abide by this aspiration if our people and our machines are first choice as well.” At its Fulda plant location, the meat processing company has been using the slicer type 604 from the Breidenbach, Germany-based equipment manufacturer Weber Maschinenbau GmbH since November 2008.
Bioproducts are a key point in the product range offered by Kurhessische Fleischwaren GmbH, and apart from its original Fulda location, the company now also operates two additional production plants located in Frankenheim and Haimbach in the greater Fulda area. The company offers a complete range in the frankfurter-type scalded sausage, cooked sausage, raw sausage, ham, bacon and preserved products assortment, with typically regional and Rhön Mountain area specialties being manufactured as well. At its Haimbach location, the company also produces ready-to-eat biofood dishes, with the Frankenheim plant, as such located in the Rhön Mountains biosphere reservation, producing 100 percent bioproducts only. The overall bioproducts’ share of the entire production volume of Kurhessische Fleischwaren GmbH currently amounts to 40 percent. “For us, bio is not a niche in the marketplace, but rather a call to action”, says business manager Erich Michel in explaining his company’s orientation. Kurhessische Fleischwaren GmbH has some 400 people in its employ, with Michel estimating some 100 more people working at service providers operating for his company. In its plant in Fulda, the meat company has been using the Weber-Slicer 604 for some months now, a piece of equipment acclaimed by its manufacturer Weber as the “can-do-all-allrounder with circular knife cutting technology”. In explanation thereof, Erich Michel has this to say: “We are a complete range manufacturer, and hence we need an allrounder-type machine, and the slicer type 604 can do exactly what we need, and is perfectly attuned to our requirements.” At the plant location where it is installed, manufacturing is in three shifts so that Michel and his people have already acquainted themselves comprehensively with that slicer in hard practical use.
Operation: logical and ergonomic
Operating and adjusting the slicer 604 is by touchscreen, as such a touch-sensitive display which is comparable in size with that of PC monitors used in offices. With that in effect, good readability and accurately correct operation are fully assured. Explains Michel: “For us, simple and logical operation was an essential criterion in purchasing this piece of equipment”, and had we put an ‘airplane’ in that place for our people, no one would have been able to fly it anyway. But as for this type of slicer, the menu guide is of simple and logical design, so our staffers have absolutely no problem in operating this machine.”
Correspondingly short was the time of work needed to become familiar with the slicer type 604, but staffers of Kurhessische Fleischwaren GmbH do like to take advantage of equipment manufacturer Weber’s service offerings anyway: “Our technical team attended a two-day training session at the manufacturer’s place”, Michel remembers, “and Weber’s service people have accompanied us here on site for better than a week after the machine was put in place. Taking a closer look at the options the slicer offers us, it becomes evident that we had a great number of additional questions, particularly at the beginning, but these were always answered fast and without any objection or hesitation.” It is in this context that Michel expressly praises the support offered by Weber: “While we never had to call the customer service to assist with such troubles as operating disturbances, faults or deficiencies, a person to consult was still there to provide information all the time.” And when Michel says “all the time”, he expressly also includes occasions outside regular office times, because personnel working in a three-shift production schedule can naturally not always take normal out-of-office times into consideration.
Versatility and speed
Michel gives the slicer the best grade also with a view to operating speed: “The machine is probably close to the limits of what is at all technically possible at this point in time already. Given absolutely flawless cutting quality, the operating speed is enormously high. And that also applies to a product changeover. It only takes a few simple manual handlings to reset this piece of equipment, there are practically no waiting times which, for a plant like ours, would naturally be very costly indeed” The slicer is suitable for the most various products, offering a whole series of variants in making portions as well: The cut and sliced product can be simply stacked, shingled in a transverse or longitudinal direction, folded, or placed in circles, to only name just a few typical portioning tasks the slicer type 604 can complete. Thanks to its modular construction, the options offered by this slicer can be adjusted to a given processing plant’s requirements in a targeted way and manner. Comments the master butcher/business manager Michel: “The unit’s flexibility and the reliability obtained with it are of an enormously high value for our operations. It is particularly the equipment reliability that is known to account for a large part for the profitability that can be ascribed to the procurement of a given piece of equipment. The machine must operate without any need of long preparation times, doing so without requiring constant exchange of worn-out parts, and without breakdowns and downtimes. And that’s exactly what it does. The slicer 604 is a technically reliable piece of equipment used in our plant and the people at Weber have clearly done their homework.” And it is also in accordance with the above that business manager Erich Michel evaluates the price:benefit ratio: “The machine is expensive but it’s worth every cent of its price. From a commercial business point of view, it is one of our most profitable investments. Whoever pursues a high quality objective and aspiration must not try to make savings at the wrong end.” It is a matter of course that every machine exposed to mechanical load must undergo maintenance work from time to time. But apart from maintenance contracts with the manufacturer, Kurhessische Fleischwaren GmbH also banks on its own people. “Like already stated, our technical team has received profound equipment intro training, and ever since we can complete many maintenance steps ourselves.” In addition to the above, the slicer’s external qualities are also in order, as Erich Michel confirms: “Construction in stainless steel and perfect craftsmanship in its manufacture are, to be sure, factors that should be self-understood. But in a big processing plant like ours, such a machine cannot ever be compact enough and it is also in view of this particular point that we are highly satisfied with this slicer, there is definitely no space given away unnecessarily.” When asked about the noise level, Michel laughs in his reply: “The slicer is about as loud as a kitchen machine; probably even more silent.” Master butcher Erich Michel, business manager of Kurhessische Fleischwaren GmbH, remains fully convinced of the correctness of his purchasing decision in favor of the slicer type 604 from Weber. High reliability and the modular and even expandable versatility, as well as the enormous operating speed, check in as cases in point that turn this machine into one of the most profitable investments his company has made. Contributing to that fact is also the convenient but always logical and simple operation of this slicer. And as a final point, customer service has thus far also proven to be a safe bank, with a competent partner available to answer requests for further information at any time, whether day or night.Dirk Bongardt