MULTIVAC UK recently provided Castell Howell, a leading food service wholesaler with a new belt-fed chamber packaging machine and portioning system to improve their packaging and portioning processes and production throughput. 

Castell Howell was established in 1988 and in 34 years has diversified from farming and grown to become a leading food service provider to Wales, the Border Counties, and the Southwest of England. The family business is proud to supply regional produce from Welsh suppliers and manufacturers.

In addition to the 60,000 sq. ft headquarters in Cross Hands, the business is continually investing in its facilities and logistics to successfully deliver over 10,000 products to a wide range of customers. The food service group supplies a diverse range of regional produce and manufactures its own range of products to meet the growing demands of the food industry supplying restaurants, pubs, hospitals, schools and universities, and much more. From their partnership with Celtic pride for beef and pork products to a selection of cooked meats, sandwich fillings, pies, cakes, ice cream, and coffee; Castell Howell can cater to all needs.

MULTIVAC UK has worked closely with Castell Howell for many years, and as the business has grown, so has the number of MULTIVAC packaging solutions to their various production sites.

In 2020, when pubs, restaurants, and schools were forced to close due to the pandemic, the business started working more closely with retailers to supply them with fresh meat and pork joints. However, the previous packaging line for these products which consisted of two vacuum packaging machines and a dip tank was limited and could not keep up with the increase in throughput.

After visiting the Cross Hands site and speaking with Martin Jones, Director and son of founder Brian Jones at Castell Howell Foods, Craig Mahoney the Regional Sales Manager at MULTIVAC UK, was able to suggest an option to improve the packaging throughput. After discussions, the business decided to invest in a B 625 belt-fed vacuum chamber machine to increase packaging throughput and productivity, but also to streamline the process by only having one machine.

Since installing the belt-fed packaging solution, the business has doubled its output and has also seen an improvement in the appearance and overall quality of the fresh meat packaging. Another key advantage of the machine as explained by Martin Jones ‘the split-belt feature of the B 625 allows us to fill the machine with one operator which increased our efficiency and increases capacity’. 

In addition to investing in packaging machinery, the business was also interested in improving the portioning capabilities on site for their beef steaks. Due to the relationship with MULTIVAC UK, the business was approached to trial its GMS 400 portioning system; the latest addition to the TVI portioning portfolio from MULTIVAC.

The technology of the GMS 400 portioning system, enables volumetric portioning of fresh meat, to provide a range of benefits including the quality and presentation of slices and accuracy and consistency of weight; all of which are very important when portioning high-value steaks for the food service industry.

Martin Jones explained ‘the justification for investment was giveaway and yield and therefore it was critical that high yields and low giveaway were delivered by the TVI machine’.  The business decided to invest in the TVI portioning solution, which has since delivered a high yield and minimal giveaway whilst also being easy to use and flexible for different sized products.

Since installing both machines, Castell Howell has reaped the benefits of the after-sales technical support from MULTIVAC UK. From preventative maintenance and retrofits, through to remote assistance, live support, genuine spare parts, and express repairs, the technical team works around the clock to assure success and satisfaction.

‘The backup and technical support that has been provided by MULTIVAC is second to none and we are back running fairly quickly, the support is strong, the availability of spare parts is always good, and having that luxury at our fingertips gives us very little downtime’, ‘We pride ourself on service and expect the same level of service from our suppliers and MULTIVAC look at things in the same light’ explains Martin Jones at Castell Howell.