„All-in-one“ solution - visionary and highly flexible

An innovative new development from GRUNWALD in Wangen im Allgäu integrates several filling solutions into a single machine. With the ROTARY rotary filling machine, products can be flexibly filled using the „swirl“, „side-by-side“ and „multilayer“ technology as well as the „dynamic inline fruit mixer“ technology.

The demand for new technologies and intelligent solutions in the dairy industry remains high. When machine performance is exhausted and physics reaches its limits, the Allgäu-based mechanical engineering company feels it has a duty to its customers to develop applications that no longer focus solely on machine and production performance. Innovations for a Efficient resource management are playing an increasingly central role.

Many things are technically feasible today, but not technically sensible. The needs and requirements of customers are determined through intensive contact and detailed consultations in order to develop suitable solutions together. We see ourselves as a partner who examines the feasibility of existing wishes and ideas.

Dynamic inline fruit mixer

As a leading supplier of format-flexible cup filling machines, GRUNWALD had developed the „dynamic inline fruit mixer“ has already developed a technical innovation to reduce costs and product changeover times when mixing yoghurt with fruit preparations. In this development, particular attention was paid to keeping the product lines extremely short. When changing fruit varieties, the mixing phase is kept to a minimum, thus significantly reducing the loss of fruit, which is unloved by the manufacturer.

This technology makes sense for use on flexible rotary and linear systems with hFrequent change of fruit variety and a capacity of up to 12,000 cups/hour. This filling system can be supplied for filling up to six types of fruit. The advantages over separately supplied mixing systems are relatively low investment costs and demonstrably reduced production costs combined with increased flexibility.

The newly developed „all-in-one“ solution enables unrivalled product flexibility in filling technology, which, according to the company, can be seen as a further milestone in optimised production.

Unrivalled product variety

With the „swirl“, „side-by-side“ and „multilayer“ technology as well as the „dynamic inline fruit mixer“ technology, liquid to pasty yoghurts with fruit underneath, various stirred fruit yoghurts with one or more integrated inline fruit mixers and also multi-coloured premium milk products with a wide range of product presentations can be filled at a speed of up to 40 cycles per minute.

This „All-in-one“ solution was very well received by the trade visitors at Anuga FoodTec in Cologne and the industry experts unanimously confirmed that the dairy industry has been waiting a long time for such an option that meets the high demand for intelligent solutions for processing premium products.

Strategic and visionary thinking

The customer's demand for high machine availability, the possibility of a flexible and fast format and product changeover, but also the simple operation of technically sophisticated filling systems are the focus of the Wangen-based machine manufacturer.

With almost 60 years of company history, the experts see and present themselves as a modern company that invests in research and development of new technologies for its cup and bucket filling systems. The focus here is on flexibility, cost optimisation and practicality.

New machine concepts

Developing technical solutions and working in a customer-orientated way means, above all, researching and developing together with the customer. One successful example of this is the collaboration and long-standing partnership with a well-known German manufacturer of delicatessen salads, creams, dips, toppings and dressings. Together, the specialists have developed a new, customised concept for automatic filling into large containers: a 1 or 2-lane rotary machine for filling tubs and also buckets.

The technically sophisticated cup and bucket filling system could now also be used for filling large containers with the strengths known for rotary machines: low space requirement, quick changeover of the system from buckets (3 kg, 5 kg) to cups (1 kg, 1.5 kg) and high output with maximum flexibility are the parameters. This means in figures: With production outputs of up to 4,500 cups per hour for the 1 kg and 1.5 kg buckets, up to 7.2 tonnes of product are filled every hour. This corresponds to a product quantity of 120 kg per minute.

This completely new rotary-type machine concept combines the technical advantages of a linear bucket filling machine with the space-saving and high production speed of a rotary-type cup filler. By using familiar, tried and tested technical details, a rotary-type filling machine has been created for the first time that can sterilise, fill, seal and close large containers of up to 15 kg in addition to cups with virtually no change of format parts.

„We have not forgotten where we come from - traditionally from the Allgäu. The basis for our success is our good, honest and long-standing customer relationships,“ says Managing Director Ralf Müller and emphasises: „Despite all the enormous increases, we have our feet on the ground.

Well positioned for the future

Under the motto „Your product is important to us“ manufactures cup and bucket fillers, dosing and packaging systems. The portfolio ranges from simple, robust rotary machines to technically sophisticated, highly flexible linear machines.

With a view to the future, this portfolio has now been further expanded in the area of complete lines. With the creation of a own project department The company offers customers even more services in the area of complete filling lines, from the process to the final packaging. In addition, the company will become even more international in the future. To this end, new sales partners are being systematically sought and specifically trained in order to optimally support and advise customers worldwide.

The Export share of the company with a commitment to the Wangen site is 85 per cent. Over 2,000 filling, dosing and packaging machines have been delivered to the dairy industry, the delicatessen, meat and sausage industries, ready meal manufacturers and the cosmetics industry worldwide. With good earnings over many years, turnover has doubled in the last four years. The largest construction project in the company's history, which was completed in June 2013, completely changed the appearance of the company and is an expression of the company's visionary thinking. Further investments in the expansion of the production area have already followed or are in the realisation phase.

An example of product flexibility: the filling of reduced-fat cottage cheese

A few years ago, it was above all the Low-fat cottage cheese is becoming increasingly popular. This non-pumpable cottage cheese, also known as „Finnish type“ cottage cheese, is produced without the use of cream and only contains around 20 per cent liquid. The problem that arises when filling cottage cheese in this low-fat variant is well known in the dairy industry. This is where many manufacturers of filling and packaging machines reach their limits.

The growing popularity in the Scandinavian markets for this low-calorie product had also significantly increased the demand for a solution for its filling. Grunwald developed a Suitable dosing system, which was enthusiastically received by the relevant markets. The technical implementation of this dosing system and the optimally coordinated individual process steps now make it possible to precisely fill both Finnish-type cottage cheese and pumpable cottage cheese with 30 to 40 per cent liquid using the same dosing system.