About the company

Pomona-Food Sp. z o.o. Sp.k. is one of Poland’s renowned producers of canned fruit and vegetables, as well as ready meals in jars.

The company is best known for its brand DWOREK 1905 and produces soups, broths, pickled vegetables, pickled cucumbers, canned vegetables and many other products using crystal-clear spring water from its own well – with no preservatives or GMOs.

The starting point

As production volumes increased, so did the demands on quality, process reliability and efficiency.

Before automation, solid and liquid ingredients were predominantly dosed manually.

This resulted in varying fill quantities, fluctuating product quality, and a high demand for personnel.



In addition, staff shortages due to illness made production planning more difficult and repeatedly led to organizational challenges.

The biggest challenge

For Pomona-Food, production output was not the only priority.

What mattered was that every jar delivered the same quality .

With products such as mushroom goulash or soups with vegetable pieces, some jars could contain varying amounts of solid ingredients.

The issue was not the dosing itself, but the uneven mixing of the product before filling.

This led to quality variations and customer complaints.

The jointly developed solution

In September 2024, a complete production line was installed, specially designed for producing soups and canned vegetables in jars.

The line includes:

• Jar rinser
• Jar accumulation buffer
• Conveying equipment
• Rotary dosing system for solid ingredients
• Incline conveyor
• Pneumatic dosing system for soups and products containing vegetable pieces, with product tank and mixer
• Rotary dosing system for liquids and brines
• Steam vacuum seamer with lid feeder
• Buffer system
• Turntable for discharging jars after sterilisation

The key component of the solution, however, was a specially designed horizontal ribbon mixer.



It ensures that solid ingredients are evenly distributed throughout the product during the entire dosing process, so every portion has the same composition.

The results

More than double the production output

Production output increased from approximately 6,000 to 12,600 glasses per shift.

Less staff

The staffing requirements could be reduced from approximately 30 to 16 employees be reduced.

At the same time, Pomona-Food now produces more than twice as many products within the same timeframe.

Consistent quality in every glass

However, the greatest success of the new production line lies in the significantly improved product quality.

Thanks to the new mixing and dosing system, each jar now contains a consistent amount of vegetables, mushrooms, or other solid ingredients.

The result:

• reproducible product quality,
• fewer complaints,
• higher customer satisfaction,
• Increased process reliability.




Greater independence from the skills shortage

Thanks to automation, the company is now significantly less dependent on short-term staff shortages.




Production remains stable and predictable even in the event of absences due to illness.

The collaboration

Pomona-Food rated its cooperation with Marba and Machines4FoodIndustry 10 out of 10 in every area 10 out of 10.

Particular strengths included:

• technical advice,
• understanding of requirements,
• communication,
• solution quality,
• commissioning,
• service and support.
  

💡 Expert tip from Machines4FoodIndustry

Why is mixing technology just as important as dosing technology?

For soups and products containing solid ingredients, the dosing machine alone does not determine the quality of the finished product.

The right mixing technology is just as important.

Only when vegetables, mushrooms or other ingredients are kept moving evenly throughout the dosing process will every jar have the same composition.

That is why at Machines4FoodIndustry we always treat dosing and mixing technology as one integrated system – for consistent quality, fewer complaints and satisfied consumers.

Paweł Grabiec
Marba Sp. z o.o.
Engineering Partner of Machines4FoodIndustry

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