October Newsletter
VOLUME 28, NO. 10
Blanchers have always been and always will be a significant part of Gem Equipment’s product line. Even though this company is best known for a wide variety of sizes and configurations of belt blanchers, in the early years, several rotary blanchers were manufactured. While Gem’s rotary blanchers were very good machines with long and productive lives, the designs have not been updated for a long time. Would this company be willing to duplicate one of old design rotary blanchers? Probably. Would selling and manufacturing one of these almost obsolete units be in the customer’s best interest? Probably not. The market for rotary blanchers is not large enough to justify the time and expense for this company to produce a modern design rotary blancher. The status of auger blanchers is similar. Gem Equipment has never been a big factor in the market for the large units used for preheating and blanching in french fry potato plants. This company is effective and competitive for the smaller auger blanchers used in seasonal vegetable processing plants.
To prosper In today’s marketplace for food processing equipment, a company either needs to be the leader, or in a position to be a serious challenge to the leader. Since Gem is not in this position with rotary and large auger blanchers, they are being retired from this company’s product line. The resources that could be used to develop modern competitive rotary and large auger blanchers need to be directed to improving the equipment that either leads in the market or has a chance of reaching that status. Leadership status may be achieved by having the best processing technology, being the lowest cost producer, a design with lowest operating, maintenance and sanitation costs, a high level of dependability or some combination of these factors. For any equipment that utilizes fluid flow, Gem Equipment’s proficiency with Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) provides a shot at best processing technology. CFD makes it possible to watch fluid flow through the system on the computer monitor. This company’s primary objective for marketplace leadership is to produce equipment and systems that will provide the customer with the lowest 10 year total cost of ownership and operation.
That objective returns the subject to blanchers. This company has manufactured belt blanchers with a wide variety of sizes and configurations for a large number of different products. The side chains used to convey hump-belt panels in Gem’s largest blanchers are a product of the pursuit for lowest 10 year cost of ownership. This chain consists of type 304 stainless steel sidebars with pins and bushings made from a cobalt alloy. The first of these chains, which is still in service, went into operation in 1987. The blanchers that use these side chains are close to an industry standard and are examples of a product line that helps keep this company in business. For other parts of the product line, if there are two good suppliers for a line of equipment, and this company is not one of them, Gem will normally not be interested in participating. This company’s resources need to be used to strengthen existing product lines that are either leaders or contenders for leadership. Outside of these categories, resources need to be devoted to fulfilling food processor’s unmet needs.