Lüchinger + Schmid has been moving, processing and trading this sensitive commodity for more than 100 years. The company is part of the Micarna Group, which in turn belongs to M-Industry. Up to 80 million eggs are processed each year in the tranquil town of Flawil in the eastern Swiss canton of St. Gallen. Lüchinger + Schmid employs around 140 people in total. The twelve employees in the sorting department in Flawil pack around 300,000 free-range and organic eggs every day, which are delivered to the surrounding retail outlets on the same day.

Handling and processing eggs is a challenge along the entire supply chain: from collection to processing and delivery. Due to the freshness of the product, work has to be done very quickly - standing still is taboo. After delivery, a machine checks the goods for damage and contamination and sorts the eggs into different packs according to size. The employees then sort the packs into containers and pass them on for palletizing.

Manual palletizing
The company saw potential for improvement particularly in the final handling step in Flawil, when the various containers are sorted from the packaging belt onto pallets. The employees had to lift the 15 to 25 kilogram crates or cartons by hand and place them neatly on the pallet - up to a height of 1.80 meters. As the number of containers increased, this work also became more physically demanding for the employees, so a more ergonomic design of the work area was unavoidable. "The entire Micarna Group attaches great importance to ergonomically designed workstations; after all, satisfied and healthy employees are an important building block for success," says Patrick Nyffenegger, Technical Project Manager at Micarna.

A visit to Empack in Zurich, one of the most important Swiss trade fairs for the packaging industry, provided the impetus for the solution. René Schürch, Head of Packaging at the Kloten site, and Dominik Gmür, Head of Operations at the Flawil site, became aware of Schmalz and its products for handling containers. The demonstrations at the trade fair showed the potential of vacuum technology and the first contact was made. Together with Patrick Nyffenegger, they decided to call in Schmalz in their search for a solution to improve ergonomics.

Customized, ergonomic solution
Christian Fluri, technical consultant at Schmalz, took up the challenge and provided a solution proposal tailored to the local conditions. Schmalz scored with an offer that was individually tailored to Lüchinger + Schmid: Christian Fluri took a close look at the conditions during a visit to Flawil and subsequently presented a flexible solution that was adapted to the process: in this case, he decided against ceiling mounting and instead recommended a gantry crane system for the workstation.