Industrially and professionally producing niche products

How did Paas Food come about?

“My parents had a butcher shop here in Maasmechelen. After studying at the hotel school, I started my own catering business in their shop. It expanded continuously until the premises became too small. So, we started here in the industrial area. We grew steadily and received ever more orders from an increasing number of customers. We adapted as flexibly as possible and quickly expanded our product range. We were successful in selling, even to retail chains in France. We had to add to our building three times and in 2008 decided to stop doing parties and catering because we could no longer combine them with all our other activities. We eventually completely renovated our premises with separate cold rooms, a warehouse, departments for fresh, spiced and cooked products and a packaging and labeling area.

Constant quality

“At one point, we were producing 90% of our production for a single customer. However, it‘s never wise to be so dependent on one buyer, so we began seeking other markets such as school meals, ready-to-eat meals and retail. It then became increasingly important for our portioned chicken fillets to be calibrated down to the last gram. That’s when we bought our first I-Cut portioner from Marel.

Fresh artisanal

The line can now both calibrate fillets and cut cubes. Cubes are important products for Paas Food, not only for skewers but also for retail trays. “We aim for consistent quality. We don’t want to depend on the person operating the line. After automating the line, we now need only one person instead of four and have noticed a significant improvement. The consistent pace also makes the work more pleasant. 70% of our production goes to retail, where it adds its value to the store’s shelves. We sell the remaining 30% mainly in the form of fresh, further-processed artisan products to food service and wholesale outlets. 95% of our products are sold as private label either under the customer’s own name or brand neutral.”

Flexible Production

“We don’t produce on a large-scale, so we need to work flexibly with our machines. On any given day, we might alternately use the I-Cut line to cut cubes, calibrate fillets, and prepare 1kg [2.2 lbs] fillet trays. If a customer orders a small volume, we can handle it. If an order for a large volume comes in, we can manage that too. Sometimes customers suddenly need a batch of cubes and then strips, which is hard to predict and plan in advance. For example, just last night a customer called: ‘We’re running short on cubes. Can you quickly make an extra 3,000 kilos [6,613 lbs]?’ We can do that. And if extra skewers are needed in the summer, it’s good to be so flexible. Large processing plants cannot respond to such requests. Their operations are too big to quickly adapt to smaller batches. We can. We can produce these special and niche products in a highly industrial and professional manner."

How is the line setup?

„We mainly calibrate fillets and cut cubes. We also produce fixed-weight fillets for retail. The I-Cut 122 knows exactly what it needs to cut. We further process offcuts. If they are large enough, they can become cubes or strips. If they are too small, they go into minced or further processed products. With SpeedSort in between to separate the flows of fillets and offcuts, we only need one operator for the line.

What‘s next?

„Lead times and staff flexibility are challenges. We‘re not the only ones struggling to find labor, especially since wage costs in Belgium are going up. So, we‘re considering more automation,“ says Stefan Paas. Paas Food has recently installed the Marel RoboOptimizer, which fully automates the supply of products to the I-Cut 122. RoboOptimizer ensures precise positioning. This leads to higher yield per fillet, as RoboOptimizer and I-Cut together determine the orientation that produces the highest quality end products (strips, cubes) from each fillet.

company website: paasfoodindustries.com