Sealed tray saves on plastic:
Baumann Vertriebs GmbH & Co. invests in SEALPAC A6 double lane traysealer for top sealing of resource-saving rPET trays
Fresh berries are a real power snack: light and tasty, with few calories and lots of
valuable vitamins, well suited for use in muesli, smoothies or yoghurt, as well as for
baked goods and many more. They can be obtained, for example, through the company
Baumann Vertriebs GmbH & Co. from Geiselhöring in southern Germany. This family
company, which has existed for several generations, has been active in the berry
business since 1995. With a team of 64 employees and around 780 directly employed
seasonal workers, Baumann cultivates around 960 hectares of land and supplies food
retailers throughout Germany, as well as Austria and Switzerland.
The company is clearly feeling the growing berry trend. Starting this season, Baumann
has been delivering its fresh fruit in trays made from resource-saving rPET. Instead of
using a snap-on lid, these trays are now sealed with a thin, peelable top film. For this
purpose, a SEALPAC A6 traysealer was purchased. In the process, Baumann benefited
from the comprehensive advice and support of Sealpac GmbH, which even allowed the
company to open up a new business area. We spoke with Annika Baumann, CEO at
Baumann Vertriebs GmbH & Co, about the company’s move towards tray sealing.
Everybody loves berries
Baumann Vertriebs GmbH & Co. specializes in growing blackberries, raspberries and
blueberries, among other things. As CEO Annika Baumann explains: „The consumption
of fresh berries has increased significantly. In the 2017/2018 season, the market in
Germany grew by three percent. In the next season, the growth was seven percent.
There are several reasons for this. People’s eating habits are changing, for example as
a result of increased health awareness. More and more consumers are paying attention
to a balanced diet, which also includes a healthy breakfast. Our vitamin-rich, versatile
blackberries, raspberries and blueberries are perfect for that.
Fresh berries are nowadays available in Germany from January to December. This
makes them more familiar to consumers, who now add them to their shopping list out of
habit. And finally, fresh berries are wonderfully suitable as a healthy snack between
meals, thus fitting in with the on-the-go routines of many consumers. As a result, our
products are no longer just found at retail in the fresh produce department, but also on
the convenience shelves. This encourages buying on impulse.”
Smart cultivation methods
Baumann entered the berry business in 1995 with blueberries by using pot cultures,
where the plants are grown in pots under artificial conditions. Today, it supplies food
retailers all over Germany with raspberries and blackberries, as well as smaller volumes
of blueberries and strawberries. In addition, it delivers asparagus to food retailers in
Germany, Austria and Switzerland. In 2012, Baumann invested in greenhouse tents in
which either three rows of raspberries or blackberries are grown. In total, the company
has around 45 hectares of raspberries and blackberries, the cultivation of which is
similar. They are mainly kept in substrate pots. The greenhouse tents, also known as
tunnels, together with a sophisticated drip irrigation system, enable Baumann to
optimally control the crops. Annika Baumann: “We use very specific amounts of fertilizer
and water, which is why we never use a drop too much or too little. We also exclude
external factors, like rain or other risks connected to cultivation in open air. In this way,
we can work on the size of the fruit and precisely plan the time and quantity of its harvest.
In 2018, we harvested raspberries in this way until November. This year, the harvest is
expected to end a little earlier.”
A brand-new packaging system
Around two years ago, Baumann was required by food retailers to save on plastic in its
packaging by June 2020, among other things by switching to tray sealing. At that time,
the company delivered its berries in plastic trays that were manually fitted with a snapon
lid. The entire production was tuned and optimized to this process, which is why the
company at first did not see a reason to modify. Annika Baumann; “Nevertheless, we
started working on change. Starting this season, we have been packaging our berries
in plastic trays made from resource-saving rPET. The trays are sealed with a top film in
a fully automated manner. The implementation of this brand-new packaging system has
significantly changed our process and brought a number of, sometimes unexpected,
advantages.”
Local support
In 2005, Baumann purchased a first-generation SEALPAC SP350 traysealer for
packaging asparagus. The company is still successfully using this machine and quite
happy with it. Based on the existing partnership with Sealpac GmbH, a request was
submitted for an additional traysealer to package berries. Using Sealpac GmbH’s
expertise, especially in understanding the market and available materials, Baumann
decided to purchase a medium-output SEALPAC A6 traysealer.
Baumann was strongly supported by Sealpac GmbH in its transition to tray sealing.
Important questions were answered together: should we start with the equipment, the
tray or the film? Is a protective gas mixture required? Should the packaging be
reclosable? What additional equipment is required for weighing and labelling? As an
example, the companies jointly travelled to the Fruit Logistica exhibition in Berlin, to get
an overview of the various options in terms of materials. This led them to the rPET tray,
produced from collected, cleaned and shredded PET, like we know it from soda bottles.
Smooth production process
One of the special features of the new process is that the trays are filled with berries in
the field. After arriving at the production facility, the trays are brought to their correct
weight by means of a multi-head weighing system. After the weighing process, the trays
are fed on a double lane conveyor into the SEALPAC A6 traysealer. The A6 reacts
flexibly to the in-feed, as it cannot be guaranteed that the exact number of trays is always
arriving on both lanes at the same time. This is why the lanes work independently, to
ensure that all trays are reliably sealed.
The A6 seals the rPET trays with a peelable top film, which has been pre-perforated, to
allow for optimal exchange of oxygen and moist. Since most labelling systems only work
single lane, the trays had to be converged after sealing. For reasons of space, this was
implemented directly on the traysealer. The trays now run out of the machine in a single
lane, to be labelled, collected and picked. The limited space at Baumann’s facility also
proved to be a challenge in terms of efficiency. In the end, the line was tailored to the
available space and designed in a U-shape without reducing its output. Although the
SEALPAC A6 is regarded as a flexible traysealer for medium outputs, it is still capable
of reliably sealing between 120 and 140 trays per minute.
The importance of hygiene
SEALPAC’s proven hygiene concept, initially designed for meat production, also works
well for the packaging of fruit and vegetables. The traysealer is made entirely of stainless
steel, whilst cleaning and maintenance take place ergonomically at working height. Tipup covers expose the entire machine, so that all components are easily accessible.
Annika Baumann: “Cleaning our equipment is an important topic. Being a processing
company, we deal with completely different certifications than agricultural companies.
Compared with other equipment, both the handling and cleaning of the SEALPAC
traysealer are extremely operator friendly. Furthermore, the equipment has been
approved by the renowned GS institute, which gives us additional security. Whenever I
walk around with my checklist, I can tick off the A6 right away, making these formalities
a lot easier.”
Benefits of sealed trays
The new trays have excellent stacking properties, not just for Baumann, but also for the
retailers. Annika Baumann adds: “We were able to further optimize logistics through an
even more efficient use of our transport boxes, because these can now be filled with at
least twelve packs instead of six. That will certainly be a topic for the autumn talks with
our customers. Preserving resources is important to us as an agricultural production
company, but is also a real buying incentive for many consumers that pay attention to
sustainability. The fact that less plastic is used for the packaging is clearly visible, since
we moved from a snap-on lid to a thin, but solid top film. The reliable seal ensures safe
transport of the tray, where the top film can be easily removed from the tray by the
consumer. Overall, we are very satisfied with our investment, which has brought many
improvements for ourselves, our retailers and our consumers. We even opened up a
new business area, quite unexpectedly, by operating as a contract packer for other
producers that cannot yet keep up with the requirements of food retail.”
Sustainability in the future
As Annika Baumann concludes: “In the future, we want to differentiate ourselves even
more in terms of sustainability. We plan to put our berries on the market in a sealed
cardboard tray. We already know that the SEALPAC A6 traysealer is capable of
processing these trays without compromising on reliability and is therefore well suited
to implement this project. In addition, we will always keep looking for new ideas on
improved freshness and shelf life extension, for example by applying a protective gas
mixture. The device that can do this is already available on our A6 traysealer.”
