Rising demand for prepared foods has put the spotlight on scaling RTE food production. Learn how a new generation of equipment is helping producers get it done.
Prepared foods are an increasingly popular option for busy families looking to slice their food prep time and individuals seeking a good meal that’s easy to eat on the go.
In fact, according to one survey, 74% of U.S. consumers said they had bought prepared foods in the previous 90 days. Another study found that up to 50% of consumers mix homemade meals with semi- or fully prepared items.
Demand is predicted to drive a 6.5% increase in global market revenue to $590 billion in 2025. The total volume of prepared foods manufactured worldwide is projected to hit 101.6 million metric tonnes by 2029. Thus, the food-processing industry is scrambling to keep up with busy, hungry consumers.
Key challenges for the industry include:
- Scaling production to meet rising demand
- Navigating increasing labor scarcity and rising costs
- Finding flexible equipment that can handle an increasingly diverse range of prepared food items rather than just one SKU per line
Keep reading to learn how these challenges are reshaping the prepared food industry and how manufacturers of high-quality food-processing machinery like Grote Company are providing flexible RTE food production to meet future demand.
GET FLEXIBLE: NEXT GENERATION AUTOMATED SOLUTIONS
Food processing automation is no longer simply about designing equipment to fulfill a specific processing function at a fixed rate. Today’s food-handling solutions need the capacity to scale up production as demand increases and the flexibility to handle various product types.
Grote’s flexible food processing equipment does just that. Our machinery replaces single-function, fixed-capacity machines with units capable of handling several different ingredient types at a range of throughput rates.
Our equipment allows you to replace multiple dedicated production lines with a single fully automated process that handles several SKUs. Our product lineup includes:
1. Slicers
Slice and apply meat, cheese, plant-based products, and more onto food bases, processing belts, screens, or trays with precision in thickness, laydown, and targeting.
Choose from slicer models designed to scale with your food processing operation. Easily swap product holders and blades to accommodate different products and applications.
Grote slicers integrate into our sandwich assembly, prepared food, and pizza topping equipment lines to automate food processing. Our patented AccuBand® disposable band blades allow quick and easy changeouts while providing optimal slice quality, yields, and consistency.
2. Depositors
Our range of depositors allows you to consistently and accurately deposit sauces, condiments, wet salads, and particulates onto sandwiches, pizzas, frozen and ready meals, and more.
- Easy integration into pizza topping or sandwich assembly lines
- Cantilevered models for use on existing lines
- Scale for single to multiple-lane configurations to boost production rates
- Accurate targeting and weights help to eliminate waste
- Multiple types of depositing on the same machine
Changing the depositor “heads” that dictate the application patterns is easy. Weights can also be adjusted to meet different product recipes. Choosing a wider unit for your application allows you to scale up production as demand for your product increases.
3. Topping Applicators
Adding toppings to your products shouldn’t be a hit-or-miss affair. Accurately apply cheese, IQF meats and vegetables, and dry ingredients onto baking trays, pizzas, frozen meals, ready meals, and baked goods.
- Border-free (spot depositing, targeted) and waterfall models are available
- Accurate placement and topping weights
- Easy integration into product lines
- Scale from single lane to multiple lane to boost production
- Minimal floor waste
Grote’s topping applicators are flexible enough to tackle multiple applications, from cheese and meat to seasoning and dry ingredients. Our spot-targeting heads can be changed to fine-tune deposits on different food bases (pizza, sliced bread) or trays.
Our range of specialist topping applicators includes:
5 WAYS TO DRIVE SCALABILITY
How does this next-generation food-processing equipment help you bump up production and pivot to meet changing custom demands while keeping capital expenditure in check?
1. Increased Capacity (When You Need It)
Invest ahead in redundant capacity so you’re ready to grow instantly when the time comes. Our multilane models let you optimize production to demand, dialing in production settings now to allow you to step up as demand increases.
2. Increased Flexibility
Handle more products on the same line. Many of our models are built to allow quick changeouts of product holders, hoppers, blades, and depositor heads so you can switch between SKUs on a single line. That allows you to respond quicker to changes in your product mix without having to invest in all-new equipment every time.
3. Increased Efficiency
Limit waste and rework from spillage, over-application, and poor assembly. Our slicing equipment cuts more accurately so you get more from each loaf of meat or cheese, while our depositors and toppers allow fine control of ingredient weights more accurately and with better targeting.
For example, Grote‘s Waterfall Applicator reduces floor waste to less than 1% while increasing yield using a highly efficient return system and special cells that adjust topping weight in real time.
4. Better Integration
Grote slicers, depositors, and applicators are all designed to work seamlessly on processing lines, including our turnkey pizza topping and sandwich assembly lines, for maximum efficiency, reducing downtime and maintenance calls so you can produce more per shift.
Adding equipment to an existing line? Many of our slicer units are cantilevered so they can slide over your line, delivering added capacity at minimal capital cost.
5. Better Use of Space
Production space is a valuable commodity – make better use of yours. By adding more products to existing lines, you can free up space to double up capacity or build production lines to meet untapped demand for new products.
ADDING ROBOTICS
Grote’s processing equipment can help improve line integration by reducing the number of separate processes and connections involved. Despite this, many complex tasks are still handled manually, which slows down the line and introduces inconsistencies and waste as workers tire or become unavailable.
Robotics effectively solves this problem, combining well with multi-application food-processing machinery. When rolled out as part of a new line installation, robotics can:
- Automate repetitive tasks
- Standardize production at a set speed
- Improve precision to ensure product consistency
- Maximize line integration
- Increase overall line speed
Robotics help boost capacity and versatility, adding scalability to operations. Like multi-application equipment, robots are versatile machines that can be programmed to handle two or more tasks, adding another layer of flexibility.
Grote is an established leader in integrating robotics into food-processing operations. Our robots automate critical handling tasks immediately before and after our slicing, pizza topping, and sandwich assembly equipment on the line. Common applications for robotics in food processing include:
- Feed pizza crusts and tortillas to the start of the line
- Pick and place meat on dough or bacon for savory treats and pigs-in-a-blanket
- Stack frozen biscuit and burger sandwich ingredients
- Lid sandwich bread
- Align products for cutting and packaging
- Pick and place end products onto packaging lines
EXPANDING YOUR RANGE
Customers are not only consuming more prepared foods overall, but they’re also demanding new kinds of ready-to-eat products.
Adding a new product to your range used to require installing a whole new production line for each product. Today, robotics and multi-application processing equipment allow you to do just that quickly and at a fraction of the cost of using your existing equipment.
Grote equipment is built to make reprogramming and equipment changeouts quick and seamless so you can respond to new market trends in days and weeks rather than months and years, pivoting production seamlessly as demand patterns change.
By reducing overall production costs and maintaining high-quality standards, you can increase your competitiveness in a crowded market by giving your customers what they want at a price they will like.
PARTNER WITH PREPARED FOOD EQUIPMENT EXPERTS
Get ahead of your competition by examining your operation’s ability to grow and diversify. Can your current equipment add scale to your operation and expand your product range?
Grote has been a leader in developing innovative slicers, depositors, and applicators capable of processing different types of products with just a few simple changes. We’ve also helped pioneer advanced robotics solutions that interface with these multi-application machines to increase efficiency, flexibility, and scalability.
Our durable equipment is engineered to help you respond quickly and effectively to the evolving prepared foods market, letting you scale your operations and making it easier to add new SKUs to your product line without having to invest in all-new equipment.
Contact us, or click below to learn more about our versatile prepared foods handling solutions.
View Our Prepared Food Equipment