The story of our progressive packaging partnership with Walkers Deli and Sausage Co., leveraging innovative solutions for unrivalled sustainability.
The background
Walkers Deli and Co. specialises in the manufacturing of premium sliced cooked meats and sausages.
The company was founded in 1824 as a small Leicester-based butchery business known as Walkers & Son. Nearly 200 years later, Walkers Deli and Co. has a reputation as the largest producer of pate in the UK and supplies major supermarket chains with sliced deli products.
Today, Walkers employs 925 UK-based staff across Leicester and the surrounding areas.
The challenge
Due to the level of energy consumption, substantial CO2 emissions and pollution generated by manufacturing, the production of deli products such as meat comes at a significant cost to the environment. As a key provider of sliced deli products to UK supermarkets, Walkers wanted to reduce their carbon footprint by embarking on a mission to optimise not only their production process, but their product packaging too.
In line with the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) for packaging scheme, which is due to launch in 2024, Walkers committed to the collective global effort to adopt sustainable food packaging practices.
To realise their goals, they needed access to innovative packaging solutions that would heighten productivity, optimise efficiency and help them achieve superior standards in the industry.
How Omori UK helped
Since 1998, Omori machines have been producing resealable packaging as an efficient and eco-friendly alternative for sliced meat products. With proprietary sealing technology, Omori flow wrappers ensure gas-tight packaging even at high speeds. This reduces food waste, extends product freshness and offers user-friendliness across all age groups, making it the perfect solution for Walkers.
Walkers’ legacy deep-drawn packaging machines were removed from production and replaced with 6 Omori HFFS flowpack lines. Using Omori’s trademark BellPack™ technology, a resealable packaging solution weighing only 10 grams compared to the 20 grams of traditional deep-drawn packs, Walkers were able to wrap their products with less material and heightened efficiency.
The results
With flow wrappers capable of sealing 80 packs per minute for 16 hours a day, Omori UK was able to help Walkers achieve an impressive 50% decrease in plastic usage.
In addition to a significant reduction in plastic consumption, Walkers’ energy costs were reduced by half as well, taking them from 20,000 KWh to 10,000 KWh per month.
The switch to eco-friendly flow wrapping solutions has also set Walkers up perfectly to align with upcoming legislation, where producers of packaging will be expected to pay for the collection and disposal costs of packaging materials when they become waste. Not only are the machines more efficient to run, but they are designed to package produce with minimal material, significantly reducing both the financial and environmental costs of plastic waste.
Lastly, innovative resealable packaging has enabled Walkers to improve freshness retention, reduce food waste and enhance consumer satisfaction, helping contribute towards a greener future.
Who is Omori UK?
With over 70 years of collective experience, Omori UK specialises in offering solutions to meet the specific needs of customers. From design and engineering to installation and maintenance, Omori UK’s mission is to provide reliable, technologically advanced solutions that enable customers to distinguish themselves from their competitors, with processing and packaging lines designed to perform to the maximum.
