Discover how PWR’s automated packaging solutions are driving efficiency in the food industry
Trusted by leading food producers as a packaging partner, PWR creates automated packaging solutions that drastically enhance the performance of their businesses. Whether they specialize in bakery, confectionery, snacks, or pet food, its clients can expect to receive the highest lifetime value and return on investment. This is all thanks to PWR’s commitment to eliminating product waste, offering full life servicing support, and securing high outputs with fewer robots. Peter Mellon, Managing Director, gives a detailed overview of PWR, from its beginnings to now.
“Standing for Packaging with Robots, PWR was 
established just over 20 years ago by four individuals who were working in the automation business. Two of them were software engineers, while the others were mechanical engineers, united by their dream to start their own business making automated packaging solutions for various customers. In 2005, the company made its first delta robot, a high-speed pick and place style robot, which marked the beginning of PWR’s current success.
“As specialists in food packaging automation, our core operations revolve around building packaging solutions for the food industry, primarily high-speed pick and place robots. Although our headquarters have been based in Scotland since 2004, our machines are engineered, designed, and built in our facility in Ede, Netherlands. Notably, this plant is based in the Food Valley area, where a lot of food is produced, and employs over 100 staff members,” he continues.
Customer centric approach
Speaking of staff, Peter proudly attributes PWR’s success to its talented personnel, along with their dedication to their customers. “We have a very dedicated, rather young workforce, as we hire graduates who tend to stick with us for a long time. In fact, the average age of our employees is 34, which is relatively young for a machine building company. A significant portion of our workforce has worked here for a long time, and two of our founders still play an active role within the company. Therefore, we benefit from a wealth of experience.
“Moreover, our customer centric approach is crucial to our success. The services we provide extend beyond building robotic packaging solutions for food manufacturers. Instead, we become invested in our customers’ journey adopting our solutions. This is because implementing robotic packaging solutions entails a steep learning curve, and customers often have many questions about robotics and how they fit within their business. To address this, we focus on accompanying clients throughout the entire journey, starting with the initial analytical work that needs to be done in their factory to assess the compatibility of robotic packaging solutions with their operations. By taking the customer through every step of the way, we ensure they fully understand what robotic solution is best for their business as they may need to tweak their process to accommodate a robotic packaging solution. Through this collaborative, customer-focused approach, we have strengthened our reputation and success, catering to many customers all over the world. Notably, more than 50 percent of our business now comes from repeat customers,” he elaborates.
Fit for tomorrow
PWR’s commitment to its customers is also evident in its sustainability strategy, which plays a central role in its operations. “When it comes to sustainability, we employ a holistic approach that benefits us as well as our customers. Internally, we always design our equipment with high-efficiency motors that consume less electricity. Additionally, we replaced our fluorescent lights with LED, which use less energy and provide better lighting. We also collaborate with our supply chain to reduce waste by encouraging the use of returnable tote boxes instead of disposable packaging materials like bubble wrap or cardboard boxes.
“Aside from that, we work closely with our customers to make sure that our solutions can handle more sustainable materials. For instance, in the past, our customers packed their cookies in plastic trays, but now some are transitioning to cardboard trays. Hence, we must ensure that our solutions can run both plastic and cardboard trays. In other words, we need to make sure that what we are designing today is fit for the materials of tomorrow. Overall, we are doing our part to promote sustainability, which is of vital importance in our industry,” he enlightens.
In closing our conversation, Peter highlights PWR’s latest innovation: the Smartline. “For many years, our tailor-made solutions have been crucial to our success. However, a growing number of companies now seek more standardized solutions that can be delivered quickly at a better price. In response, we asked our engineers to develop a modular robotic packaging solution, allowing us to deliver faster to the market and offer a more competitive price point. This also enables us to reach new types of customers, such as small to medium-size food producers who need smaller solutions. Thus, Smartline was conceived to answer to these needs while retaining the technical features and unrivaled software of our tailor-made solutions. The first Smartline machine has been running for nearly a year in a UK-based factory, and the customer is delighted with its performance. We have since sold several other Smartline machines, which we are currently building.”
By complementing its tailored solutions with Smartline, PWR is well-positioned to strengthen various types of supply chains for years to come.