Provisur Technologies is a renowned industrial food processing equipment manufacturer headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, with a global network of sales and innovation centers. The company holds an impressive number of patents for industry-leading food processing legacy brands and has now partnered with Winou Foodtech, a major Chinese processor of burgers and patties, to produce burgers for a well-known international fast-food chain in China. Together, the two companies have put in place a production line that uses cutting-edge, intelligent technology to satisfy the demand in high-quality burgers.
Winou beef products: safe, healthy, delicious
Winou Foodtech is a high-tech food enterprise with a hypermodern factory and a research and development center in Qingyuan, China. Currently, the company mainly produces beef products, especially burger patties. Its emphasis on safe, healthy and delicious burgers was an important criterion when deciding to partner with Provisur.
In the words of Mr. Jin Zhonfang, President Winou Food Technology Company, “Provisur is the world’s leading supplier of meat and food equipment. It has a very high reputation and can offer us the world’s most advanced beef patty production line.”
For Winou it is not enough to measure success in terms of profitability, but also very sincerely in terms of trust, conscience, and integrity. These are Winou’s core values. The two companies forged a relationship based on mutual trust over a number of years, proving to Winou that Provisur also embodies these values. “We want to be a company with a conscience. Producing products with a conscience will benefit future generations. Then we will have a long and bright future ahead of us,” says Jin Zhongfang.
Analyzing Winou’s needs
For Provisur, collaboration is based first and foremost on gaining a deep understanding of customer needs and future goals. In the case of Winou, Provisur’s team of specialists first ensured that they understood all aspects of the raw material that Winou works with. For Winou, a machine must be able to handle frozen blocks of meat. In addition, flexibility is important to make the production line future-proof and enable the introduction of fresh trim at a later date. It was therefore necessary for Provisur to design a line that allowed for add-ons and even the establishment of a second line in the same space.
In-line fat analysis and foreign object detection
Frozen blocks of meat enter the Weiler 360A mixer grinder on the Winou line. After the grinding process, a key element for Winou is the in-line fat analysis / foreign object detection unit. Winou customers have lean point requirements that need to be taken into account. The in-line fat analysis provides exact data on fat content and if necessary, requests extra material to reach the target range. This gives Winou a high level of control and enables the company to reliably meet customer requirements and support quality. Due to its design, the analyzer also acts as a foreign object detection unit. It detects and eliminates objects that are not visible to the naked eye, thereby increasing food safety which is another core value to Winou.
Patented technology ensures the perfect burgers
After the in-line fat analysis, the product is conveyed to a mixer grinder via a screw conveyor. This is where Provisur’s world-leading expertise comes into its own. The mixer grinder has a patented design that prevents the product from being overworked – very little mechanical energy is put into the meat. This enhances the forming capabilities and leads to an outstanding end product – a firm burger that provides a good bite.
The product is then chilled in the mixer grinder, discharged onto a conveyor and conveyed to the Formax® former where the patties are formed, and which also has the ability to put a dimpled look on the product.
Automation at the heart of the Winou line
From the outset it was important that all processes on the Winou burger line be highly automated. Food safety, cost-efficiency and consistency are key issues, and all of these are the result of automation: once the blocks of meat enter the grinder, there is no need to touch the product during the entire process. A series of electrical controls, load cells and ultrasonic sensors are used to control the flow of the line. Human operation and human touch are taken out, thereby eliminating issues such as worker availability and hygiene vulnerabilities that arise when many hands touch the product.
Partnership for the future
Jin Zhonfang explains, “Our future strategic development will see us grow to become an industrial chain that integrates production, sales and R&D, and which will include our own Business School. Provisur’s ongoing technical support is empowering us to head in this direction.”
Both working with a candid communications approach Provisur and Winou Foodtech are partnering to develop the China Experience Center, with an R&D unit and a first-class R&D team to promote innovation and optimization in beef products. This allows Winou to develop products tailored to customer wishes, for example, adding different ingredients such as onions or certain spices.
“Provisur’s expertise in collaboration is based on our first-hand understanding of production issues. We have an applications group that itself has extensive knowledge and experience of the production floor. Furthermore, our legacy brands have proven reliable for decades as well as continually evolving with new innovations,” adds James Edwards, Director Project Management, Engineered Systems at Provisur Technologies Inc. “This explains why Provisur understands the challenges that processors deal with, and why, when we design a line, we make sure that the design eliminates a lot of these issues.”
Provisur equipment in service at Winou: durable, reliable, versatile
Weiler® Screw Conveyer
Weiler® screw conveyors efficiently transfer raw materials, minimizing the mechanical energy introduced into the raw material and minimizing product waste. They process whole trim, fresh and frozen pre-ground, as well as frozen pre-broken, delivering best-in-class performance and optimum efficiency. Their robust, reliable construction leads to low-maintenance costs, and, as with all Provisur equipment, they are backed by Provisur’s worldclass technical support.
Weiler® 360A Mixer Grinder
The Weiler® Mixer Grinder is extremely versatile. Designed to efficiently handle frozen and pre-broken block grinding, it is renowned for its flexibility and high-capacity performance. It delivers a remarkably low cost of ownership, along with simple operation and fast, easy sanitation.
Formax® Former ULTRA 26
The ULTRA26® is suitable for forming a broad range of meat, poultry and non-meat products. It is commonly used by high-volume processors to form popular products such as burger patties, sausages, chicken filets and chicken nuggets. Despite its small footprint, it maximizes line performance, reduces maintenance and enhances portion control. It delivers precise weight and shape control while forming products with a natural texture and excellent appearance.
