Packaging Automation (PA), the UK manufacturer of heat sealing machines, is supplying one of the country's leading chilled food producers, Uniq Prepared Foods, with some state-of-the-art equipment.
This will help ensure that Uniq is capable of meeting the demand for over a million oven-ready turkey joints this Christmas.
Uniq's Yorkshire operation annually turns out in excess of a million premium quality oven ready turkey joints for retail giant Marks & Spencer. Each joint is packed in a smooth-wall foil tray and sealed with a film lid.
Usually, two MAP-V gas flushing machines are used at the company's Driffield site. But in the run up to Christmas, over nine machines will be required.
The deal between Packaging Automation and Uniq Prepared Foods allows the food producer to hire machines for periods of intense activity.
"I had been doing business with PA for around eight years when I joined Uniq," said engineering manager Graeme Watson.
"Today we are very much in a partnership with them, where they help develop - and sometimes issue free - new tools. And when we are looking to develop new lines, we do work closely with Packaging Automation, who are quite happy to take some of the risks along with us."
Packaging Automation was established in 1963 and is the UK's leading manufacturer of heat sealing machinery for the food industry.
The business employs 120 people and produces a wide range of equipment. These range from simple manual units and semi-automatics through to in-line fully automated systems. The company also manufactures volumetric fillers, conveyors and other processing equipment.