In late October and early November, officials with Provisur Technologies rolled out the red carpet at its Ingenuity Center in Mokena, Ill., to demonstrate to some of the industry’s biggest and best bacon processors how its partnership with Reiser and JLS Automation delivers a world-class, full-line bacon processing system for the retail segment. “Better Bacon Days” spanned nearly every day for a two-week period as Provisur opened its doors and invited processors (and MEAT+POULTRY on Nov. 1) to an afternoon of information and networking, with each day being highlighted by two live demonstrations of a complete bacon processing line.

Provisur equipment featured on the line started with the Hoegger Trim X meat sizing system designed for docking and side strapping defects on pork bellies. Next in the line was the Servo-controlled Hoegger X4 Press, designed to ensure maximum yield while optimizing operating cost. Also part of the Provisur portfolio that was featured at the demonstration, was the CashinSX Bacon Slicer (with card dispenser). 

After slicing, the demo line featured the JLS Harrier Bacon Draft Loader, an automated bacon draft loading system configured for retail packaging. At the end of the line was Reiser’s Variovac Primus Thermoformer, which is designed for precise draft placement to deliver consistent packaging in high-output bacon production lines. 

The demonstration started with conveying bellies through the sizing system. 

“The goal of TrimX is to take all sizes of bellies and only trim off what is required,” said Mike Collins, Provisur’s product specialist for bacon and cured meats, which he explained would include anything that didn’t constitute a full slice, such as a thin edge, a defect or an area that would only produce a half slice after the belly is pressed. 

Some processors utilize the docking of the flank end of the belly as another way of maximizing returns when operating in the black can be challenging. 

“You can play the market more,” said Collins. “When bacon bits go up, cut a little more off the flank end and when bacon bits go down, cut a little less off the flank end,” creating more No. 2 category products as collection of trim is fully automated with the TrimX and are conveyed to dicing equipment. 

Traditional belly preparation without the advantage of sizing operations like that offered by the TrimX results in pressing bad meat into good meat, creating unnecessary defects and yield loss from the flank end, the shoulder end and especially with larger bellies, Collins said. 

Prior to cutting, the TrimX utilizes a Servo-powered flattener, which applies pressure only from the top, using just one-third the force of the bacon press. The meat sizing process also aligns the belly with the front side of the machine to facilitate the use of a comb (for hanging in the smokehouse). After flattening, bellies are scanned, using two top scanners and two from the bottom, to identify defects via a 3-D image. 

“We have algorithms for many different defects: thin area, thin channel, fishtail, wedge cut, thin edges,” Collins said. 

Information on these defects is communicated to the side strapper and docking systems. After scanning, a clamping device secures the belly, which is then driven through the side knives that independently move to remove defects from the right and left sides. 

When sizing multiple bellies, while the flank end of one is being cut the blade also runs through the shoulder end of the next belly in line, “So we do two cuts at once,” Collins said. “That is how we achieve 15 per minute.”   

Pressing on

After TrimX, bellies moved on to the Hoegger X4 Press, which features what the company refers to as “intelligent force control,” for gentle, accurate pressing. Collins said maximizing yield is the result of not over pressing bellies, specifically those that are oversized. 

He pointed out that belly pressing is not a one-size-fits-all proposition, which is reflected in the design of the X4. Wide bellies, he said, can crack in the middle if they are aggressively pressed. 

“You can over press a belly that is too big in order to get to a certain size,” he said.

When it comes to pressing, Collins said maximum speed and force can compromise quality. 

“Speed kills and you don’t want to kill that belly,” he said, which is why Hoegger’s Servo-controlled, hydraulic press utilizes specific speed and force to each belly, depending on the size and structure of each one. 

The human machine interface for the press is user friendly and is a source of a wide array of information about the machine’s operation that can assist in troubleshooting and enhancing maintenance procedures. Its hydraulics are hermetically sealed in a tank to prevent condensation that could damage pumps, cylinders and valves.   

Cashing in 

After bellies were pressed during the demo, they moved on to Provisur’s Cashin SX high-speed slicer and card dispenser, capable of producing up to 80-16 oz, 16 slice drafts per minute. Similar to the TrimX system the slicer utilizes scanners to produce an image prior to cutting. 

“Nine inches before the blade we already know how thick each of those 16 slices for that draft are going to be and they are all going to be the same. It’s all predictive,” Collins said. 

Another feature of the slicer that was highlighted was its automatic seam control to facilitate rejection of the seam areas between adjacent bellies to minimize line debris. The compact design and small footprint were also noted during the event. Slices come off the blade and onto a card, which signaled a handoff to the JLS Harrier robotic loader on the demo line.

Bacon automation

Mike Newcome, vice president of sales with JLS said the company’s equipment, including the Harrier Loader, are designed to endure washdown environments, which is critical in a bacon processing environment. He stressed the importance of the upstream processes, from trimming to slicing, to ensure the delivery of quality drafts for the next step in the demonstration line, which was labor-friendly loading. 

“We have the opportunity to automate a process that has traditionally been manual,” Newcome said. 

The Harrier was designed to take the draft on an L-board and fold the flap over the product, pick up the product using a robotic arm, rotate it 180 degrees and automatically load it into the pocket on the thermoformer. 

The system demonstrated utilized a dual head picker but is also available in single-head or up to a three-head configuration, depending on production volume needed. 

“You’ll see drafts enter the system and you can see a camera system in there that is qualifying targets and determining if they are pickable or not,” Newcome said. “If they are pickable they are loaded into the thermoformer and if they aren’t pickable due to the quality, we let them pass on through.” 

Drafts that are out of weight spec are offset by the Provisur system upstream and because the Harrier is vision based, it will allow those imperfect drafts to pass through to a make-weight station immediately after the robot. 

The automated loader set up for the demonstration was designed to handle 72 drafts per minute with the ability to surge to 84 per minute. 

“That’s important because it means we can keep the slicer running at nominal rate and if there is any weight correction that needs to be done, we can manually enter pockets, accelerate the thermoformer up to 84 drafts a minute and then present pockets and keep enough targets and place targets to continue running the line without any more drafts making it through,” Newcome said. 

In the demonstration line, just after picking and prior to the drafts going into the sealing die was a designated location for an operator to check for anything that could compromise the sealing process. 

The final step in the bacon line was Reiser’s Variovac Primus Thermoformer, detailed by Peter Monte, director of national accounts. 

The Variovac is designed for precise draft placement and complete control during packaging cycles.  

The system utilizes a four-point lifting system to ensure rapid forming and delivery of six bars of pressure in each pocket. 

The Variovac Primus features include sealing bars that run the entire width of the die box to maximize the seal and minimize leakers. It is designed for simple, high-volume production that delivers consistent bacon packaging for processors of retail products. Part of the simplicity is its manual film advance controls that are located at the machine’s infeed and features like divider sets in the forming and sealing dies instead of individual dividers and a snap-on sealing frame.

According to Monte and Reiser, the Variovac Primus has established itself on the world market as one of the most reliable deep-drawing machines since it was rolled out in 2013.