Gyma Germany is a brand company with an extensive range of delicatessen sauces and dressings. Since 1992, the company has been part of the Gyma Group, which has its headquarters in France. Its customers include system catering, wholesalers, highway service stations, snack bars, canteens, caterers, airlines and companies in the food industry. In order to be able to guarantee immediate availability to all these customers, an efficient supply chain is required. The customers are supplied quickly in the desired container size - from portioned goods and individual small packaging to bottles and large packaging such as canisters or containers. Around 70 employees work in two shifts at the German headquarters in Kamp-Lintfort to ensure smooth production and internal logistics. Around 25,000 tons of sauces leave the German plant every year.

Stacking heavy cartons effortlessly
In the large container packaging line, canisters of ready-made sauces are packed in various cartons and then palletized. A standard carton measuring 390 x 270 x 290 millimetres holds four canisters, each weighing five kilograms. Two canisters, each weighing five kilograms, fit into another customized carton measuring 270 by 190 by 290 millimetres. The employees can therefore move up to 20 kilograms - a heavy load.

Gyma Germany was therefore looking for an ergonomic solution that would relieve the strain on employees in the packaging process and also ensure work safety. Furthermore, the new handling solution needed to be able to be changed over from one carton size to another several times during a shift in just a few simple steps - and as quickly and easily as possible.

The company ultimately opted for a solution from Fipa. The complete set for handling parcels consists of a Fipalift Smart tube lifter with a load capacity of 35 kilograms, a dry-running vacuum pump, a column-mounted slewing crane and a traverse with four bellows suction cups made of the composite material Varioflex, a special polyurethane in two different hardnesses. The sealing lip is soft and flexible, while the sturdy body ensures rapid resetting. With their holding force, they are suitable for the precise handling of abrasive products.

With the tube lifter, three cartons per minute can be palletized with little effort. Production Manager Rainer Jacobs is delighted with the new handling solution: "The Fipalilft tube lifter takes a lot of pressure off us. Now I can once again deploy employees at this point who were previously no longer able to work physically hard over a complete shift due to their age or physical condition." In the meantime, Gyma has ordered a second lifting beam so that the tube lifter can be flexibly converted to other box sizes. as