Fresh meat products are among the most sensitive goods in food production. Timelines, process reliability during production and the dependability of the machinery must interact perfectly, as delays or disruptions have an immediate and significant impact on the entire value chain.
Production and packaging processes must run stably and function reliably even under high capacity utilisation. In practice, these requirements pose a daily challenge for large food producers. How crucial a smoothly functioning interplay between production and packaging is can be seen, for example, at one of Eastern Switzerland's most important meat processors: the Migros Eastern Switzerland Cooperative is one of ten regional cooperatives in the Migros Group and is one of its largest retail companies. At the same time, it is one of the leading meat producers in the region, distributing its fresh products via Migros butcher's shops. Around 8.5 million kilograms of meat are processed and approximately 24 million packs are produced annually.
In the company's processing and packaging operations, automated packaging lines from Multivac are used, running without interruption in continuous shift operation on thermoforming packaging machines with cross-web or conveyor belt labellers. Every unplanned downtime in such an environment has an immediate impact. If a packaging line breaks down, it is out of action for about one to two working days, with noticeable consequences for production planning, ability to deliver and costs. In order to identify such risks early on and avoid them wherever possible, Migros East Switzerland relies on the long-standing cooperation and special expertise of Multivac.
Reliability becomes strategy
The company has been working with Multivac since 1997 and currently has ten thermoforming packaging machines in operation. These are used to package sliced meats and sausage products in MAP packs, as well as fresh meat in MAP, skin or shrink-wrap packs. „In the fresh produce business, the availability of the equipment is crucial for us, as we have to process and package the products immediately. That is why we rely on annual preventative maintenance before the season to ensure permanent equipment availability,“ says Franz Breitenmoser, Production Manager at Migros Gossau.
„To minimise unplanned downtime and make service calls more efficient, we recommend a holistic maintenance and optimisation concept to our customers. Alongside proven approaches, this should also integrate new, data-driven ones. The key is the interaction of different maintenance strategies that complement each other, emphasises Augusto Votta, Senior Director Sales at Multivac Export AG.
Preventive Maintenance comprises regular, schedulable maintenance measures that ensure the safe and reliable operation of machinery in daily use. It creates the necessary foundation upon which all further maintenance activities are built. Furthermore, this proactive approach uses data-driven analysis of machine data to identify when an unplanned machine breakdown is imminent and when there is an actual need for maintenance. By combining both approaches, maintenance measures can be specifically planned and bundled. This allows unnecessary repairs to be avoided, costs to be reduced, the lifespan of the machines to be extended and the risk of breakdowns to be reduced.
Digital solutions in action
By installing four RX 4.0 thermoforming packaging machines from the new machine generation, Migros has also opted for predictive maintenance using Smart Services from Multivac. These digital solutions are now being used on the four RX 4.0 machines and an existing R 535 thermoforming packaging machine. The data-driven digital services, which are based on the analysis of smart data and the networking of machines, have been specifically tailored to Migros' individual requirements. The aim is to minimise unplanned downtime, make service callouts easier to plan and more efficient, and make optimal use of available resources, particularly personnel, time and costs. The advantage of this predictive operational management: Migros is informed as soon as a problem with a system becomes apparent, long before it becomes visible in operation. This means that faults can be checked and rectified at an early stage.
How crucial this data-driven approach is can be seen by a specific example from daily production: a fault in a heating plate was detected at an early stage on the basis of machine data and predictive maintenance algorithms. During the ongoing packaging process itself, however, there was no indication of this whatsoever, neither in the speed nor in the quality of the packaging. Only the data revealed that a problem was developing in the background. Working heaters had already compensated for failed units: a short-term solution which, however, could lead to the system being overloaded over a longer period of time. Had another heater failed, it would have caused the entire line to come to a standstill. The affected heating modules were replaced even before a fault could occur. This timely intervention thus prevented a prolonged production shutdown and the spoilage of large quantities of meat.
Data-driven optimisation
In addition to smart services, Migros East Switzerland relies on digital consulting from Multivac, which aims to optimise production processes by identifying hidden potential, unplanned downtime, reduced speeds and increased scrap. The approach comprises four steps: analysis, potential identification, optimisation and successful implementation. Machine data is collected, bottlenecks are identified and action plans are developed to increase overall equipment effectiveness (OEE). The goal is a sustainable increase in efficiency through the combination of data-based analysis and process know-how. In addition to technical parameters, operating and process factors are also made transparent.
A particular focus is placed on identifying causes that may lie in operator behaviour. Shift-dependent errors can thus also be analysed: if errors occur less frequently on the early shift than on the late shift, targeted training measures for the machine operators can be derived from this. At Migros Ostschweiz, the use of digital consulting led to an increase in their output and greater process efficiency. Based on the collected machine data, several optimisation measures in the packaging process were identified and implemented. This led to a reduction in unplanned downtimes as well as improved OEE and increased output with the same input of personnel and time. The analysis of machine data, combined with the practical experience of the packaging experts in the processing and packaging process, played a significant role in this.
Reliability thanks to smart services
By combining smart services, digital consulting and predictive maintenance, Migros Eastern Switzerland has significantly increased the stability of its production processes. „Unplanned downtime has been reduced, OEE improved and overall production made more predictable. In our long-standing collaboration with Multivac, the focus is not solely on pure machine availability, but also on the continuous optimisation of production processes,“ explains Franz Breitenmoser. „Over the 30 years we have been working together, we have always found the company to be a great partner that supports us in always ensuring the best possible product quality for our customers.“
Concrete use cases, such as the data-driven exchange of components which prevented a potential failure, underline this added value. For Migros East Switzerland, this primarily means greater security in an environment where reliability and timing are crucial. Especially in fresh produce production, where every interruption has a direct impact on supply, the ability to identify risks at an early stage becomes a key success factor. These results show that the combination of machine data, process understanding and predictive maintenance can make a sustainable contribution to efficiency and food safety.
packaging journal 4/2026
This article was published in packaging journal 4/2026 (September).
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