Page 34 - Food & Drink Magazine October 2019

PACKAGING EQUIPMENT & MATERIALS
A dollop of automation
Automation has allowed Chobani to meet consumer demand and lower costs. Doris Prodanovic writes.
AUTOMATION specialist HMPS has spent three decades supporting the food and beverage industry with end of line solutions out of its Adelaide base. Starting in wine packaging out of the Barossa Valley, HMPS now focuses the majority of its work for dairy companies, such as Chobani.
Specialising in yoghurt, Chobani is an American company with its Australian facility in Melbourne. The company was looking to meet growing demand in the Australian market for its strained Greek yoghurt product by investing in automation. In the past 12 months, Chobani has installed line packing pouches, and will soon install a fully automated case packer and palletiser, all from HMPS.
“We are the only builder of this machinery in the country,” HMPS managing director Mark Emmett told Food & Drink Business. “When Chobani was looking for new automation, they had – in the past – bought
LEFT TO RIGHT: Chobani founder and global CEO Hamdi Ulukaya, Chobani Australia GM of operations Steve Butler and MD Peter Meek.
that machinery from overseas. They felt we could provide and support it better than the equipment they were importing and so we created a line for them that was flexible and fit in to the Australia market.”
The general manager of operations for Chobani Steve Butler says it was important to find a local partner, not only for support, but to understand the Australian consumer. Since working with HMPS over the past four years on automation projects to improve efficiency, Chobani now has four pieces of equipment from the automation manufacturer in its facility.
“One of the biggest benefits of working with HMPS is that
being Adelaide based, they’re immersed in the Australian market and bring a strong local connection,” Butler told F&DB.
“At Chobani we look to support local businesses whenever the opportunity presents itself. After a successful installation late last year on our yoghurt pouch line, we approached HMPS to build another case packer and palletiser for our tubs line.”
HMPS has created a flexible automation solution that can cater for a wide range of products and ensure it is retail ready with its carton design. This flexibility will allow Chobani to change how its products will be packaged. It also means the company will be able to produce at a competitive price, which will keep costs down.
“Our engineers have trained Chobani’s maintenance team and operators on how to run the machine and change it over for different sizes,” says Emmett.
“We have a system called HMPS Connect where there is online monitoring of the machine’s performance, which is all cloud-based, and we can directly work with the teams on how to do it.”
In addition, automation can provide accuracy and consistency when it comes to product handling. Butler says that from a quality perspective, automation certainly adds great value.
“Having a robot is consistent for pallet stacking, for example, and can minimise hazards that are associated with operator handling,”
he says. “The introduction
of this technology has offered us new ways of flexibility
and efficiency.”
The new end of line automation solution from HMPS is currently being manufactured and is expected to be installed in the Chobani facility in February. ✷
34 | Food&Drink business | October 2019 | www.foodanddrinkbusiness.com.au