Located in Montpelier, VT, in a sparsely populated rural area, Cabot often experienced difficulty finding qualified employees. In addition, the time-consuming and physically straining task of muscling 40-lb blocks of cheddar into bags resulted in absences that compounded an already tight labor situation.
In Fall ’02, Cabot started up two adjacent CL20 cheese block packaging systems from Cryovac, Div. Sealed Air Corp.
“The CL20s work amazingly well,” says Cabot plant manager Marcel Gravel. “Since the installation, we have experienced consistent high-quality bagged blocks, minimal downtime, and lowered labor costs. We also have fewer product returns because the CL20 bags have far less wrinkles than the bags we used previously. Since installing the CL20s, we have been able to save nearly $63ęŻ in direct labor costs.” Additional savings have been realized in employee injury reduction, and in productivity improvements.
The CL20 in-line system ejects blocks of cheese directly into a gusseted bag. The preformed gusseted bags from Cryovac are a 90-micron coextruded barrier structure.
Cabot’s CL20 works in conjunction with the Cryovac RG20, a regusset machine that automatically folds and prepares the bags for vacuumizing, and a Cryovac BT20 machine that orients the wrapped blocks for vacuumizing. The block-wrapping machinery has been terrific for Cabot and its customers. “Our customers like the uniform packaging, and our employees are extremely pleased with the new system, which is easy to operate and troubleshoot,” says Gravel.
