Automation Eliminates Hand-Labeling at Rumiano Cheese
For decades, employees at Rumiano hand-applied labels to its cheese products. A new weigh price labeler reduced labor for that task while increasing throughput.
Rumiano Cheese produces multiple cheese products for retail and foodservice, with formats including chunks, wedges, bars, and loaves.
Rumiano Cheese
Founded in 1919 by three immigrant brothers from Italy, Rumiano Cheese has become the largest cheese manufacturer in California. With two facilities in the state—and its headquarters in Crescent City—the company’s products are sold throughout the country as well as online. Today, the company is run by third- and fourth-generation Rumiano family members.
Rumiano’s packaging plant cuts, wraps, and distributes multiple cheese products for retail and foodservice, with formats including chunks, wedges, bars, and loaves. “We also package not only Rumiano branded products, but also private label for our partners, as well as custom tolling for CPG brands,” says Ray Rumiano, specialty sales manager at Rumiano Cheese.
As the company grew, Rumiano Cheese identified the need to automate portions of its operation at its Willows, Calif., location, including the traditional hand-labeling process of their cheese products.
Path to automation
Cheese arrives at the Willows plant from Rumiano’s Crescent City facility in 40-lb blocks, then inventoried and stored in their warehouse.
When it’s time to cut and package the cheese, the cheese blocks are cut down into smaller, more manageable pieces, depending on the format/size of the end product. These smaller pieces are then cut further into the final format/size (i.e., an 8-oz. wedge).
Rumiano Cheese used to require six people on the line hand-labeling cheese products. After installing this weigh price labeler, labor on this part of the line has been halved.Ossid
“Once cut to appropriate size, the cheese is then vacuum sealed with cheese storage pouches, and sent through a shrink tunnel where the excess plastic is shrunken down for a more aesthetically pleasing appearance of the piece,” explains Rumiano.
After a piece of cheese has been packaged, it’s labeled, and depending on the product, the piece can require a front vanity label as well as a weight label on the back. For years, this labeling procedure was done by hand. The process involved the retail-sized pieces of cheese being packaged, then labeled, flipped over, weighed and then hand-labeled again, and re-entered into the product stream.
This labeling system required deli scales with label printing capabilities, and six employees to handle the time-consuming task. “This took a ton of labor and increased repetition which could result in repetitive motion injuries. Plus, it was fairly slow,” Rumiano says, adding that the company couldn’t continue with this outdated labeling process because it was not efficient enough for the company’s increasing throughput requirements as business grew.
Less labor for labeling
In order to reduce labor, boost speed, and add efficiency, Rumiano Cheese purchased two weigh price labelers from Ossid. The machines can weigh, calculate price, and label 60-80 pieces per minute. This automated system also places each label on the product in the same position at the same angle with more reliability than human workers can achieve. In fact, shoppers can look through an entire shelf of products packaged at Rumiano Cheese and see perfect label alignment.
The two Ossid machines helped Rumiano address two issues: in-line scale and label application, which keeps employees from having to manually touch every piece of product; and it allowed Rumiano Cheese to automate labeling for some of their uniquely shaped pieces of cheese (i.e., wedges or “triangular cuts”).
“Previously, these [shapes] were tedious to label with any sort of automation due to the inconsistent shape of the piece,” Rumiano says. The Ossid machines have an interface that allows operators to view a projected model of the label while it’s being created. It can also handle top and bottom labeling for added functionality. Best of all, Rumiano only requires three people on that part of the line now.
This Ossid weigh price labeler can weigh, calculate price, and label 60-80 pieces of Rumiano’s cheese per minute—significantly faster than the company’s previous hand-labeling process.Ossid
“Some of the measurable results that we’ve realized since installing the Ossid machines include lower labor costs, lower repetitive motion risks or injuries, and improvements in morale,” Rumiano says. “Hand labeling cheese all day is tough work. The employees on the floor trust the machine is doing what it needs to do, while being able to apply their productivity to other, value-added processes and tasks.”
As for installation, Ossid technicians trained Rumiano’s staff on the overall methodology and technology involved with the weigh price labelers. There was a learning curve—as there is with any new equipment—but the Rumiano’s staff has adapted to the machines, and they are fully integrated into the day-to-day operations.
Looking ahead, Rumiano Cheese plans to continue embracing innovation in their production lines and streamline their current process further. “We hope to expand our existing site in the coming years to accommodate more automation,” Rumiano says. “The cost savings we’ve seen from working with Ossid has allowed us to remain competitive, become more efficient, and meet our production goals.”
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