All-in-One Packaging Solutions for Ready-Meals

Hera is ideal for sealing two trays at a time, therefore doubling the manufacturer's production rate. It is compactly designed to optimize production floor space, while allocating comfortable work stations for line operators.

28/07/08 Hefestus, Israel has developed an advanced ready-meal conveyor, named Hera, that enables maximum flexibility in creating an unlimited range of full ready-meals in various tray shapes.

Consumers are looking for new and exciting ready-meals every time they go to the supermarket, but many ready-meals manufacturers face difficulties in altering packaging and sealing of different products and trays, which leads to time waste and high costs.  Hefestus’s versatile machine provides advanced solutions for a wide range of ready-meals. It enables the manufacturer to fill and pack any ready-meal composition such as vegetarian, Italian or French courses. Hera’s competitive edge lies in its quick set-up time between different products and different trays as well as diverse capabilities of filling and packing. It also saves set-up time significantly while switching between products or trays.

“Manufacturers want an easy-to-use machine with infinite ready-meal possibilities; we fulfill their request by developing a high-value conveyor that addresses the needs of the manufacturers for versatility in creating a varied range of products,” explains Oded Shtemer, CEO of Hefestus. “With Hera, you can control important parameters such as numerous filler and stop stations to make a wide range of ready-meals.  Manufacturers can create and change their product composition easily and thus respond to quick changes in the marketplace.”

Hera is ideal for sealing two trays at a time, therefore doubling the manufacturer's production rate. It is compactly designed to optimize production floor space, while allocating comfortable work stations for line operators. It is also easy to clean and can increase the production rate significantly while saving production costs.

Manufacturers are developing ‘homemade’ style food and healthy ready-meals using fresh and local ingredients. The demand for freshness together with trends in healthy ready-meals increases the need for longer shelf-life. Hefestus’s patented method of sealing trays with modified atmosphere (MAP technology) SLB extends shelf-life without using synthetic preservatives or freezing.