“In the food industry, there is first the kitchen – the process of manufacturing the product – the packaging machine which puts the product into a container. We intervene later. We make the packs, the pallets. » In front of a brand new line, Pascal Portrait, co-founder, with Patrice Bridier, Philippe Eblin and Jean-Jacques Dussart, of ARP (Automation Robotic Packaging), details the operation of this machine called to equip the Mayotte Dairy.
Fifty days of transport by boat
“The yogurt pots enter the line, are placed in plastic boxes, then on pallets. » To the rhythm of “16,000 pots packed per hour”it is necessary to count “around thirty seconds between the entry of the pot into the line and its exit on the pallet”.
Technicians from the Poinçonnet factory carry out the final tests, Monday December 2, 2024, while a team from OC Films takes videos. “We make some for each machine. To present them to potential customers, it's better than a slideshow. »
Soon, the line will be completely dismantled, divided into four containers and sent by boat to this overseas department, located in the Comoros archipelago. “It’s enough for fifty days of transport. » There, a team from Poinçonnet – “7 or 8 people” – will be responsible for assembling it on site. “It takes a week for assembly. Then, two technicians will support production over several weeks. We work like this all the time, whether the machine is in Blois or Mayotte. The only difference is the travel time. »
This machine is almost routine for this company created seventeen years ago, “we make up to 80,000 pots per hour”. Another is currently being assembled, right next door. It also has its share of innovation. “The new thing is plastic packaging”explains Pascal Portrait.
A constraint linked to the destination of the tool. The hot, humid climate of Mayotte, located in the Indian Ocean between Madagascar and Mozambique, is not particularly compatible with cardboard. “And there is none produced locally, they are forced to import it. » Hence the use of plastic crates “returnable and reusable” to package yogurts.
At the end of the line, this robotic arm assembles the yogurt boxes to put them on pallets.
© (Photo NR, Gaspard Mathé)
This is also the first time that the company has delivered to a customer in this area. “We have customers in Europe and North America”and now a foot in Africa. “La Laiterie de Mayotte, which belongs to the Reunion company Cilam, has existed for a long time. She called on us to create a new production line, because the needs are growing. »
Pascal Portrait believes that ARP benefited from the “industrial word of mouth” to obtain this contract, around 2 million euros. “We work with well-known milkmen. Cilam has licenses for certain products from these dairy companies. » Another advantage over its French, Italian or German competitors: “We produce modular and compact machines. »
ARP
> 2007. The year the company was founded, by Pascal Portrait, Patrice Bridier, Philippe Eblin and Jean-Jacques Dussart. Installation in a relay workshop in Villedieu-sur-Indre.
> 2012. The company moves to Poinçonnet, to premises it has purchased.
> 2024. The company has around fifty employees – “we are still in the recruitment phase” – for a turnover of around 14 million euros.
