Pacepacker on the pulse at Askew & Barrett

摘要

Askew & Barrett sources pulses from key agricultural merchants and then sorts, cleans and grades them at its processing plant in Wisbech, Cambridgeshire. The pulses are bagged into 12.5kg and 25kg paper sacks and 25kg woven polypropylene (WPP) sacks, before being palletised and transported to food manufacturers and retailers at home and abroad. Until very recently, this entire operation, from empty bag placement to palletising, was performed by up to five operators, with a weigher, bag closer and stitcher the only pieces of equipment to figure. The problem was that in order to keep up with demand, during busy periods Askew & Barrett had to operate the line 24 hours a day, six days a week. Although the working day was split into either two 12 hour or three eight hour shifts, this was still physically demanding work, and the company didn't want to continue exposing its staff to that level of manual handling.