Kowalski Sausage, maker of Polish sausage, hams, bacon and lunch meats, prides itself on its "Kowality" products.
The Hamtramck, Mich.-based operation, established in 1920, has enlisted Rice Lake, Wis.-based Johnson Truck Bodies to help it maintain its quality reputation.
Kowalski owns and operates a number of delicatessens in Michigan. Transporting product in properly insulated and refrigerated vehicles is a crucial component to its business.
Kowalski has 18 trucks in its fleet, all equipped with Johnson bodies. Steve Rahn, Kowalski's transportation manager, admits that Johnson bodies have helped make his job easier. Rahn, who formerly worked as a frozen food distributor, was accustomed to managing truck fleets with "cheaper" bodies.
Rahn says he's impressed with Johnson truck body's insulation factor. A standard body is equipped with a 4-inch insulation on its ceiling, floor and front and rear wall, and 3-inch insulation on the side walls.
Kowalski utilizes three Johnson body types in its fleet:
-- Eleven delivery trucks with 16-foot long bodies, each featuring three rows of adjustable shelving with cargo netting installed to keep product on shelves; and a recessed and insulated (9-by-12 high) stepwell at the door for safe and easy access to the body.
-- Five warehouse trucks, four with 20-foot bodies and one with a 21-foot body, each featuring an extra heavy-duty floor for fork-lift loading; a Whiting Cold-Saver roll-up rear door; one row of "E" track and two rows of polyethylene rub strips; and a Waltco FSL-25 lift gate for unloading roll-on carts.
-- Two foodservice trucks with 16-foot long bodies, each featuring dual temperatures; a fiberglass floor in the front; an diamond-plate floor in the rear; and a walk-up dock bumper.
Rahn points out that Johnson manufactures its truck bodies to meet each company's specifications. "That was one of the most important things for Kowalski, because we have such a variety of products," he adds.
Rahn says the recessed step at the rear of the truck body is well-liked by drivers and salesmen.
"The recessed step doesn't take much room away from the interior of the truck," Rahn claims. "It provides very easy access to the body. These drivers aren't young anymore. Recessed steps make it easier for them, especially when they go in and out of their trucks 20 times a day."
Rahn says he's also impressed with the durability and longevity of a Johnson truck body.
"I have one truck body remaining from the last fleet, and it's six years old," he adds. "But it looks brand new, and it holds temperature fine."
Rahn says Johnson installed 12-inch aluminum guards on the tracks of the trucks' roll-up doors. If a pallet hits a guard, it kicks out to protect the track. "That's one thing you don't see on other truck bodies," he adds.
Hatfield turns to Autofom to make grade
Hatfield Quality Meats continues to make the grade when it comes to improved technology.
The Hatfield, Pa.-based company has entered into an agreement with SFK Technology A/S of Denmark to install SFK's Autofom hog carcass grading system at its Hatfield plant. John Reininger, Hatfield's manager of livestock procurement, says the technology will be the first of its kind installed in the United States, and that the equipment should be operating by early next year.
Jeff Arner, Hatfield's supervisor of livestock services, says the Autofom provides for a more advanced technology for measuring carcasses.
"The Autofom utilizes ultrasound transducers to take a picture every half-inch down the length of a carcass," Arner points out.
The pictures will provide 3-D images of the backside of a carcass. The images produce a clear picture of the entire backfat layer, as well as muscling within the carcass.
Currently, Hatfield uses SFK's Fat-O-Meater. The meat packer was one of the first U.S. companies to install the equipment eight years ago. The Fat-O-Meater measures one point of a carcass and predicts the percent of lean cuts in the carcass.
"We've been extremely satisfied with the Fat-O-Meater," Reininger says. "But when we installed it, we knew that some day further advances in technology would lead to even better grading equipment."
Because the Autofom measures every half-inch of a carcass, "it will fine tune what we're doing because we'll be better able to determine the actual value of the carcass," Reininger points out.
The Autofom is fully automated with no moving parts. It does not require an operator.
Arner says producers sometimes question the role human operators play in the process. Producers believe operators are apt to lack consistency in using the optical probes (of the Fat-O-Meater).
Reininger claims the Autofom is "extremely accurate" for making predictions. But before it is installed, "we have to go through a lot of testing and developmental processes because the device has to be USDA-approved."
Arner says the project will involve cut testing and software development. Penn State University will participate in much of the data collection and evaluation.