Case Histories
Primo S.A., Processed Meat Packer Reaps Numerous Benefits Thanks to Cryovac® Innovative Slicepak® Packaging
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Primo S.A. is a French packer of fresh food products, specifically smoked
and processed meats and cheese. Located 20 km from Toulon, it is today
the first and only pre-packer of such products in the South-East of France.
The Primo product range includes sliced salami, raw ham, coppa, pancetta,
mortadella, dry sausages, chorizo, bresaola, as well as block products
such as pâtés and sausages. Cheese products include a wide
variety, from soft and blue cheese to hard and semi-hard cheese. With
28 employees, the company’s annual turnover has been regularly increasing,
from 3.2 million Euros in 1999, to 3.6 million in 2000 and an expected
4.8 million in 2001. The Primo plant will be packing close to 400 tonnes
of processed meat products this year.
Supplying local super and hypermarkets in the region, Primo’s strategy
is based on providing a wide and deep product range. Key success factors
include innovative packaging and the ability to deliver fresh products
daily, making service a top priority. With this objective in mind, Primo
management have developed a pioneering spirit and dynamic approach to
innovation and service.
Keeping a close watch on new packaging opportunities and latest market
developments, Primo began working with Cryovac in 1998. They needed help
to improve their “fresh pack” activity for cheese products.
After extending their factory, they invested in a CRYOVAC®
CJ50/CJ51 flow-wrap line to increase production capacity. Successful results
encouraged them to pursue with processed meat products. In October 2000,
Primo adopted various CRYOVAC®
Case-Ready packaging solutions. When Cryovac launched Slicepak®
earlier this year - an innovative concept for freshly sliced processed
meat and cheese products - Primo seized this opportunity to introduce
a totally innovative packaging concept.
Slicepak® is a new Cryovac
“Fresh Pack” system offering attractive presentation and combining
specific equipment, materials and service components which deliver maximum
benefits to the sliced processed meat and cheese segments. “Fresh-pack”
is a new retail position for fresh products that were traditionally sliced
in-store and are now prepared centrally, but still retain that back store
image. SLICEPAK products are placed near the deli counters and away from
the self-service area, allowing additional sales of highly profitable
deli products yet offering convenience to consumers who do not wish to
wait in line but want the quality of freshly sliced products.
SLICEPAK comprises a ROSS CRYOVAC®
Junior Automatic A20S machine, rigid CRYOVAC®
BFS 1523 & 1825 barrier foam supports no more than 7 mm thick,
as well as the CRYOVAC®
SPF25 top lidding film featuring appropriate shrink, barrier and
optical properties. Primo was the first Cryovac European customer
to adopt the new SLICEPAK concept, installing a first packaging
line for processed meat “Fresh packs” in February 2001.
The benefits encountered by Primo after launching the new SLICEPAK concept
were manifold. Their customers immediately experienced significant sales
increase (sales multiplied by 3 to 7) thanks to attractive pack appearance
and strong differentiation. Other major benefits include fresh appeal,
secure 21-day shelf life, the possibility to place the packs either vertically
or horizontally and the increased quantity of products in chilled cabinets.
“SLICEPAK has strongly contributed to the development of our “Fresh
Pack” activity for smoked and processed meat products”, comments
Primo General Manager Patrice Fabre. “Now it is helping us gain new
market share in the South-East of France, so it is clearly supporting
our growth strategy!”.
In fact, the SLICEPAK success story for Primo has encouraged them to
enlarge their product range to include sliced cooked ham and the company
has thus invested in a second A20S with automatic loading.
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