manufacturing fries

Have you ever seen the show, “How It’s Made?” It’s a great look at the manufacturing process of many of the products we use every day. In my role, as part of the Customer Success Marketing program, I’m always looking at our list of customers in search of the next great success story to share, and I love looking into what they make. We serve such a wide spectrum of industries, and each is so unique in their manufacturing process.

Manufacturing Frozen French Fries

As you can imagine there are many producers of french fries. Take QAD customer Farm Frites for example. They manufacture frozen potatoes of every shape and size. While I haven’t been to their shop floor, I have seen the episode of “How It’s Made: Frozen French Fries” which made me think of how their factory probably operates. Watching the potatoes bounce along the conveyor belt as they are cleaned and sorted by shape and size to single out the perfect potatoes to make the perfect fry, it’s hard to believe the entire process, start to finish, can be done by machine – and some pretty cool machines at that. Obviously, there are humans maintaining the equipment, but they aren’t usually interacting with the food directly.  

In the beginning, the potatoes roll along conveyor belts including large grates that shake the smaller potatoes out. Did you know that the long oval potatoes are designated for the traditional strip fry shape, while smaller, rounder potatoes are sorted separately and used to make curly fries or cubed fries?

manufacturing frozen french fries

After that, they are steamed and dropped into another machine that looks a lot like a clothes dryer only the walls are lined with big brushes to remove the skin – all done without smashing the potatoes. Some manufacturers run the cut fries through a conveyor with built in camera and computer that analyzes each fry to identify the ‘sub-standard’ fries and they are removed from the line. Talk about high tech!

The entire process runs the fries from one cool machine to another, each with a special purpose. And this process is unique to the manufacturing of frozen french fries. Which means that a company that produces frozen foods faces challenges and requires manufacturing solutions that a different food and beverage manufacturer, like a fresh food or dairy product company, wouldn’t need.

Frozen food manufacturers require accountability and traceability of products that ensure they will always be stored and transported at the correct temperature, in controlled environments. Effectively managing 3PL distribution and contract manufacturing partners while minimizing distribution and manufacturing costs is critical.

Frozen Food Manufacturing In the Cloud

QAD understands that no two companies are alike and a one-size ERP solution doesn’t fit all either. While we have specialized expertise in six specific industries, we also recognize that there are subverticals within even those industries, such as frozen foods! Learn more about QAD Cloud ERP built specifically for your industry.

6 COMMENTS

  1. Thanks for this post… We at BBL Foods, support and supply of hardly used batch type potato chips machines with an excellent working condition based on the capacity requirements.

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