Raptor Combi delivers ‘best value’ says fresh soup start-up #Engineering #RaptorCombi #FortressTechnology

A good foundation is half the battle, claims Dutch food start-up Soupy. And as every professional cook will testify, quality always tastes better. For Soupy, its slow-cooked stock is the company’s secret sauce to success and unsurpassed taste. To support this quality focus, the fresh soup manufacturer opted for the very best inspection ingredient – a Raptor Combi from Fortress Technology. 

Leaving nothing to chance, including quality control and dosing, local manufacturer Jansen Control Systems introduced Soupy to the Raptor Combi. A checkweigher and metal detector in one, the award-winning system fulfilled the IFS and BRC requirements from day one of production for the ambitious new food producer. 

Despite its early start – Soupy was only founded at the end of 2021 – the Soup with a Smile brand is gaining fast attention across Europe. Already stocked on the shelves of two retail chains in The Netherlands, preliminary talks are already underway with potential stockists in Belgium. Professional from the start with a mission to “provide a fresh and healthy alternative to canning”, one thing Soupy doesn’t lack is the ambition to make a difference.

Director Jan Schipper explains: “Ask any cook, the basis for a good soup is a good stock. If you let delicious fresh vegetables steep overnight and cook them slowly, you retain all the fibres, minerals and vitamins and get a purer and more natural taste. Without any e-numbers or flavour enhancers.” 

Fulfilling IFS and BRC standards from the start

Located in Oud Beijerland, the 100% natural soup brand instantly established its production protocols to meet the requirements set by IFS and BRC. It meant an extra step in quality control for Schipper. 

Although the large stainless steel soup kettles pose little risk, the start-up wanted assurance that no metal contamination could end up in its soups. Simultaneously, the company also wanted to ensure that customers receive the volume of soup promised to them. The Raptor checkweigher contained within the small footprint system verifies that the filling machine is dosing correctly.

Soupy approached Jansen Control Systems to arrive at the best value technical solution. “Good cleanability was a basic requirement. Electronics, sensors … they can be sensitive to water, but we still need to be able to clean the machine and belt perfectly, while everything continues to work as it should,” Schipper summarises. 

A fully integrated metal detection and checkweighing system, the Fortress Raptor Combi delivered on all counts. Engineered following the acquisition of Sparc Systems by Fortress, the combination of their strengths has resulted in the Raptor machine series that stands out for its robust design, weighing range up to 8 kg, user-friendly HMI and easy cleaning conveyor to maintain perfect hygiene.  

Value added support

In addition to meeting the Raptor promise of the best price-to-performance and quality ratio, the fully integrated software ensures that every Code of Practice is met. Enabling Soupy to adhere to IFS and BRC standards.

Schipper comments: “Thanks to the user-friendly HMI and the support of Jansen Control Systems, our production team quickly mastered the operation of the Raptor. We especially value the pre-set automatic test procedures that provide feedback to our quality manager. It automatically meets the requirements set by large retail chains as standard. Additionally, the personalised support from Jansen was a decisive factor in our investment.” 

Installed by Jansen at the end of November 2021, several fine tuning adjustments were performed to ensure the speed of the inspections performed by the Raptor matched the pace of the filling station and application of the packaging lid, reports Soupy’s Head of Production Jan Visser. The Raptor Combi reject mechanism was also adapted so that the pots of soup fall only 30 cm deep. Minimising any risk of spillage.

“With the excellent support of Jansen, we knew we could count on them to fine-tune everything perfectly,” adds Jan. 

Expressing absolute satisfaction with their investment, Visser adds: “This is not a machine that makes soup, but we are completely reliant on the Raptor Combi to fulfil our quality guarantee for consumers. No rejects is testament that it is quietly working. But equally, we feel confident that it’s reliably doing its job knowing that Jansen is on hand to quickly resolve any issues or make further modifications if they arise.”

Having mastered the machine well, Jan is already keen to optimise efficiency as Soupy’s production speed ramps up. “Further training will help us to explore the additional Raptor options. There are several ‘bells and whistles’ features we haven’t yet begun to utilise, but we are already thinking about how these can be adapted to the Soupy production environment moving forward,” concludes Schipper.