Hardbite Chips produces all-natural potato and root vegetable chips. They modernized their production line with Vanmark equipment, allowing for increased capacity in the coming years.
Hardbite Chips produces all-natural chips made from potatoes and other root vegetables. They recently moved its manufacturing operations into a new 43,000-square-foot production facility. The facility is located 40 minutes southeast of Vancouver in Surrey, British Columbia, Canada.
The Challenge
With a growing uptick in demand, as well as an increase in distribution coupled with the launch of new products, Hardbite needed to expand the production of its potato chips. The company was looking for a way to process more potatoes faster.
“We see demand for Hardbite Chips growing at a rapid pace,” said Kevin Wong, Operations Manager, Hardbite Chips. “With the introduction of new flavors and types of chips, as well as a move into global distribution and new markets, we needed to ramp up production as quickly as possible.”
Because Hardbite had installed Vanmark equipment in the past after purchasing some older used machines from another food processing company, they knew the machines were reliable over the long haul. Based on that experience, the company turned to Vanmark to help it meet its current challenge.
The Solution
Vanmark worked with Hardbite to listen to its needs and carefully assess the situation before making equipment recommendations. Hardbite purchased a Vanmark Floor Load Crate Dumper to unload product containers quickly, two Metering Hoppers to control line flow rates and provide accurate metering, a Hydrolift Destoner to separate rocks and debris, and an Orienting Roll to feed product to slicers and cutters consistently.
Vanmark managed to ship the equipment on a tight schedule to meet Hardbite’s needs.
The dumper, metering hoppers, and hydrolifts were installed in Hardbite’s receiving/prep room. The orienting roll was installed in its process room.
The Results
With the new Vanmark potato chip processing equipment, Hardbite has been able to modernize its line in its new location, allowing for potential increases in capacity in the coming years.
The Future
As Hardbite Chips grows, Wong knows the company will turn to Vanmark to help meet its future needs.
“We know we can rely on the Vanmark team to bring its team of experts and its suite of potato processing solutions to help us address our challenges and continue to manufacture quality products our customers love.”
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Learn more about Vanmark’s potato chip processing equipment here.