Automatic Wrappers for Meals that Matter
FeedMore Western New York’s (WNY) Meals on Wheels program has dramatically improved efficiency after implementing an Ishida WM-Ai automatic wrapper in their production processes. The road to this solution was not simple, but choosing to work toward eliminating food insecurity and isolation was.
The Meals on Wheels program of Buffalo, New York, USA, was founded in 1969 and has been reducing food insecurity by delivering nutritious meals to senior residents in their area ever since. Being “food insecure” means having limited or uncertain access to safe and nutritionally essential foods. According to the USDA, having “very low food security” is indicated by multiple occurrences of disrupted eating patterns and reduced food intake, having “very low food security” is indicated by multiple occurrences of disrupted eating patterns and reduced food intake, which may mean missing meals or not having access to enough food to survive. As of 2017, nearly 8 million Americans who are age 65 or older face the threat of food insecurity.
FeedMore WNY partnered with TRIO Community Meals, who is dedicated to providing reliable meal delivery services. TRIO Community Meals has over 50 years of experience providing nutritionally balanced meals to seniors who are homebound or living in senior centers. Supplying healthy meals and friendship to vulnerable seniors is a passion that inspires every devoted TRIO team member. Everyone is united by the sincere belief that by working together, senior hunger and isolation can be eliminated.
FeedMore WNY’s Meals on Wheels program provides 4,000 meals every day to senior citizens throughout Buffalo and 28 surrounding communities. With numerous citizens depending on them, FeedMore WNY and TRIO Community Meals continually seek ways to improve meal quality and production efficiency. They also wanted to reduce employee strain caused by the repetitive motion of manually wrapping every meal. Stretching film, filling trays and carefully wrapping contents with a neat, secure seal by hand is a time consuming, exhausting process. Hand-wrapping the meals was an all-day task for four people and often led to sore muscles; they needed a better solution to continue serving their community successfully.
Rose Ashraf, Operations Director for TRIO Community Meals, researched several automatic wrappers and said a competitor’s product didn’t make the cut. Continuous problems with operations led the team to return the product. Ashraf continued researching products and suppliers, seeking an automatic wrapper that would be reliable, easy to use and consistently produce an attractive seal—with the added benefit of local training and support. After reviewing Ashraf’s research, the TRIO and FeedMore WNY teams decided the Ishida WM-Ai automatic wrapper was exactly what they were looking for. They chose Rice Lake Weighing Systems because of their supportive service representative and Rice Lake retail products distributor, Gregg Barren.
