GIC helps Kitchen Garden Produce boost production
One of the UK’s leading suppliers of prepared fresh vegetables has seen a significant increase in capacity since completing a multi-million pound investment.
Fenmarc has enjoyed the benefits of additional throughput and efficiency at its Wisbech factory since installing a complete new multiple line weighing and packaging plant.
The new lines feature the latest in multi-head weighing technology along with four GIC3100 high speed vertical form fill and seal packaging machines, which now give Fenmarc higher speeds, greater accuracy and a lower cost of ownership.
“The previous three lines had been running 18 hours a day, seven days a week since 2015,” says Terry Holland, Head of Engineering at Fenmarc. “We decided to see how we could become more efficient for several reasons. The lines were showing their age and needed more frequent expensive maintenance; some parts had become obsolete and were no longer supported; and new machinery offered better accuracy and performance.”
Kitchen Garden Produce was established by Chris and Ann Kitchen in 1979 on a 22 acre farm. They now grow shallots, echalion and asparagus which are grown, stored, packed and distributed from this base.
“Chris and Ann have a real passion for what they do and have invested heavily over the years,” says Keith Marrow, Applications Manager at GIC. “They were experiencing considerable downtime due to the age of their previous machines and a lack of support from the manufacturer, so they decided to look elsewhere for a new solution. By choosing GIC and our 2100 machines, they have improved performance, future-proofed their business and gained better support going forward.”
Based in Gainsborough, GIC has been designing and manufacturing vertical form fill and seal packaging machines since 1993.
