Food & Drink Process & Packaging Issue 29 2020 | Page 14

VELEC Systems: High speed counting, loading and packaging solutions Q: What is the company’s history? Velec started in the 1950s and its core expertise was to sort and realign products at high speed using centrifugal force. The first applications were coins, followed by bolts, nuts, screws, pharmaceutical pills and food. Following the takeover by Loïc Pollet in 2011, the company completed a strategic realignment on food application, where its equipment was already highly appreciated by major companies including Nestlé. Anticipating market demand, Velec has completely reviewed its machine design to an ultra-hygienic standard that is fully dismountable without tools, eliminates any retention areas and changing hollow tubes to a fully open structure. Answering customers’ needs, Velec has developed all types of equipment to offer the market complete solutions from an oven or a freezer through to the end pallet. These include easy-to-clean conveying solutions, the IP69K robotic smart picker and collaborative palletisers. Q: How has your business evolved? We were fortunate enough to meet key players in the American meat business that had been badly affected by Listeria. Their health and safety engineering teams shared their experiences and pushed us to the maximum limit to design what has now become our standard and was recognised by the industry during IFFA 2019 as the most hygienic design solution. solutions which take raw products in bulk through the entire process from sorting and realigning to inspecting with optical cameras and finally counting, batching and loading products in selected primary packing (vertical bag, flow pack, trays, thermoformer, cartons) followed by secondary packing and palletising. Successful solutions include high speed loaders for frozen burgers, sausages, breaded products and more. What are Velec’s areas of expertise? We pride ourselves in adapting customers’ existing solutions to their requirements. Where most of our competitors propose a “take it or leave it” solution we will review the dimensions of our equipment to make it fit a customer’s factory or adapt it to the customer’s end product. For example, we are currently adapting our sausage loader for a customer manufacturing spring rolls. It is the same with automation. As standard, we offer Siemens for European customers, AB-Rockwell in North America and, more recently with a German partner we have worked with B&R automation. Q: How do you work with customers? We work with food customers all over the world who have heard about us online, at international events or through networking. We quickly understand their exact needs, taking into account type of product, expected throughput, available factory space and so on. This allows us to produce a preliminary report to establish solutions available within budget. We believe people don’t have time to waste and appreciate quick initial answers. Q: What makes Velec stand out from other companies? Among the key things our sales engineers involves not only our equipment but the customers’ overall process in order to identify exact requirements to maximise throughput, equipment efficiency and understand how the systems should be designed for the long-term. Q: What are your plans for the future? With a strong order book for 2020 and into 2021, we look at the future with confidence. We are working on the expansion and modernisation of our two plants in France and about to transform a strategic partnership in USA into a merger. www.velec-systems.com www.velec-systems-coin.com Thanks to this demanding request, the Velec Hygienic Design is available to customers large and small. This design exceeded all the original requirements and allowed us to secure orders and install equipment throughout Europe, North America and Asia. Q: What types of solutions do you offer? We offer complete engineered turnkey 14 FDPP - www.fdpp.co.uk