Intralox and Conveyor & Automation Technologies Transform Herr Foods's Operations

Customer Objectives

Established in 1946 and headquartered in Nottingham, Pennsylvania, Herr Foods, Inc., is a leading family-owned snack manufacturer. Their products are sold in all 50 U.S. states and more than 40 countries.

To meet increasing demand for their products, Herr Foods wanted to upgrade their aging end-of-line and palletizing operations. Their system used shoe sorters and two palletizers, and had been operational for over 25 years; however, it required extensive maintenance. Every year, downtime for repairs and replacements halted production for more than a week and cost $100,000 USD. Herr Foods also needed a solution that could fit within their existing footprint and support their growing throughput and capacity needs.

Although Herr Foods preferred to work with the system's original integrator, the integrator's upgrade proposal didn’t meet their requirements. It exceeded the project budget by $2 million and didn't fully align with their operational goals. After exploring alternative solutions, Herr Foods contacted Conveyor & Automation Technologies, a systems integrator founded in 2003 in Sparks Glencoe, Maryland.

Specializing in customized conveyor and sorting solutions for the food and beverage industry, Conveyor & Automation excels in material handling, robotics, electrical control systems, and packaging equipment. Their customer-first approach, dedication to understanding customer needs and goals, and operational philosophy made them an ideal partner for Herr Foods.

Conveyor & Automation provided two customized proposals—both within budget—that fit the existing footprint and addressed Herr Foods’s growing throughput and capacity needs.

Intralox Execution

Conveyor & Automation chose Intralox as their conveyance partner because they've had positive experiences with our sorting technologies in the past. They knew Intralox's industry-leading technologies, services, and flexibility would best meet Herr Foods's needs.

Through effective triangulation and partnership among the three companies, the project was split into two phases to ensure no effects on operations. With careful planning and implementation, Conveyor & Automation's system integrators designed a new system that included:

• One Activated Roller Belt (ARB) Registration S900
• Three ARB Switches S7000 (2:2)
• One Dual-Stacked Angled Roller Belt (DARB) Sorter S4500
• One ARB Passive Off S400
• Four Conveyor & Automation palletizers

Intralox and Conveyor & Automation mobilized specialized teams to ensure efficiency. These teams included sorter specialists, switch technicians, and palletizer experts. "We wanted to provide a best-in-class solution for sortation, as well as use the footprint wisely to add production capability," says Gus Sarikas, Vice President of Sales and Marketing at Conveyor & Automation. "The Intralox 2:2 merge sections and the DARB sortation provided a solution to both of those parameters."

Results

The new end-of-line and palletizing system delivered tangible results to Herr Foods's operations—within their existing footprint, and with no effect on operations.

Herr Foods's throughput increased by 25%, from 120 cartons per minute (cpm) to 150 cpm, providing greater flexibility to handle multiple SKUs within the same shift. The system's capacity expanded from 12 to 20 lines. These changes allowed the company to manage more SKUs—600, up from 300—while maintaining consistent production levels and providing room for future scalability. The layout was optimized to increase the number of cases per buffer line by 1.5%. Greater flexibility and redundancy ensure production never drops below 50% capacity, even if there are disruptions.

Beyond these operational improvements, Herr Foods had substantial cost savings. The new palletizers have enhanced wrap tensioning, decreased manual labor, and lowered supply costs. These improvements saved Herr Foods $400,000 annually.

Eliminating corner boards on pallets saved them another $250,000 per year. The new palletizing system allows pallets to be stacked directly which optimized space, eliminated the need for racks, and netted additional cost savings.

Safety also improved. Manual tasks like labeling and adding corner boards are no more, and safety fences have been added—all ensuring a safer working environment for everyone.

Herr Foods is extremely satisfied with the results of their collaboration with Intralox and Conveyor & Automation. Company officials are eager to continue working with both parties to further enhance operations in the future.