![\"\"](\"https:\/\/innovationisrael.org.il\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2023\/06\/hartman-1024x654.png\")
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According to Ronen Shriki, the innovative mechanization dramatically increased output, contributed markedly to the workers’ professionalization, and enhanced their quality of life. “Before we began working with the new mechanization, every stop and restart in the production process required physical intervention. Today, every worker at the operator’s station receives specific training and learns how to operate the computerized process. During the past year, we even introduced another innovative feature into the process \u2013 the use of a robot. Until then, the workers on each shift stacked hundreds of bundles of egg packages on pallets. Today, the robot lifts and orders the bundles, while the workers operate it and focus on quality control.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Part of the company’s vision in Israel, one that also stems from that of the parent company, is environmental sustainability. Hartmann-Mai was one of the first companies in the world to begin recycling, before everyone else realized its importance. As far as the company is concerned, recycling is a paramount value. “We only use eco-friendly materials and regard environmental sustainability as a calling \u2013 not just with regard to the final product but also to the work process itself. This is evident in the many international awards that the company wins every year for its contribution to environmental sustainability”, says Ronen Shriki.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“The world of manufacturing is undergoing a technological revolution. Making the transition to smart industry and advanced mechanization are vital to increase chances of survival and to create a competitive differentiation”, says Dr. Malka Nir, Head of the Innovation Authority’s Advanced Manufacturing Division. “We encourage advanced industry in Israel at the Innovation Authority by promoting innovation processes aimed at increasing productivity in the manufacturing industry. The connection between factories and technology experts in fields of Industry 4.0 allows factories to assimilate advanced methods and to connect to technological trends in the field.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
From Manual Labor to an Advanced Machine for Manufacturing Snacks<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
The used of advanced mechanization is also a high success factor in the food manufacturing industry. ‘Tivit \u2013 Products from Nature’ is a privately owned Israeli company that manufactures health snacks. The company, founded in 2001, focuses on manufacturing sugar free and gluten free sesame, peanut, and sunflower snacks. The snacks were packaged in special zip-lock bags that preserved freshness and which could be closed and re-opened later to finish eating the rest of the snack. The company’s founder, Ilan Peretz, says that Tivit’s uniqueness is that the company’s snacks are manufactured without gluten or added sugar, that are even sold as individually wrapped finger snacks (bars) and not in a bag, while its competitors use both sugar and gluten.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“When founding the company, I made a very early decision to focus on manufacturing a healthy snack \u2013 without compromise”, Peretz says. “In the first year, we achieved significant sales growth and began to think about how to progress \u2013 whether to continue manufacturing in the company’s small factory in Holon or to move to a larger factory in order to develop further and produce additional products”. Tivit chose the second option, and the company realized that there was a need for an advanced manufacturing machine for the snacks in order to create a significant advantage over the competitors. Until then, the company had employed a manual method to cook the product mass, pour the mixture on to a table, roll it like a cake, and cut it with a knife. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
When Peretz despaired of his search overseas for suitable advanced machinery at an affordable price, he decided to look for Israeli companies who could build the machine he wanted. The machine needed to “learn” and be able to take in the raw material mass and produce a snack-bar in a continuous process without human intervention. “The development process took a very long time and was accompanied by many technical challenges”, says Peretz, “we learned the hard way, that there is a big difference between trial runs of the production line in the workshop for short times and scaling up to continuous production during a whole shift. Although some thought that this was a hopeless attempt, it was clear to me that without advanced machinery, the company had no future”. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
In 2002, the company moved to a larger factory in Ashkelon where it developed and installed its first semi continuous production line. A year later, the line was already manufacturing all the company’s products, with meticulous care for the health aspect and while using only the best quality raw materials. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n In 2005, a new partner \u2013 Rami Offer \u2013 joined the company as an equal partner. Offer, a food technologist, had previously worked as R&D manager for Telma-Unilever. At this stage, the company began focusing on manufacturing snack bars in close collaboration with the Innovation Authority. This collaboration helped Tivit develop a new line for manufacturing all-natural fruit and nut-based snack bars. “The Authority accompanied us throughout the entire process”, emphasizes Peretz, “including a professional evaluator who examined the different stages of the development process and helped us put them in focus, as well as assisting us with financial grants.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n The entry into the world of all-natural snack bars expanded the range of Tivit’s products and today the company develops snacks with cereal, nuts, and dates, and even a series of snacks under the Barbary brand, that contain 100 percent natural vegan ingredients \u2013 without gluten or added sugar and preservatives. The company also manufactures for the “free” and “Neot Semadar” brands. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The smart company’s technology and advanced mechanization process opened the door to new markets. Today, the company exports primarily to the United States and Switzerland and is preparing to start selling the snacks online.<\/p>\n\n\n\n These innovative developmental steps proved themselves to be vital for the company’s growth and enabled it to remain efficient and unique in a highly competitive field with numerous competitors from Israel and overseas. “We grew by more than 50 percent in 2019 compared to the previous year”, and in the first quarter of 2020, we grew by a further 30 percent. Naturally, the employees also benefitted from the process says Peretz. “But this growth would not have been possible if we had not upgraded and automated our production process. Even though production capacity increased dramatically with the introduction of the advanced mechanization, we have maintained our existing workforce, and even increased it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n “Tivit’s vision is to continue growing and developing. The Innovation Authority’s support for a new project we began in Jan 2020, will allow us to launch a new innovative category of products in early 2021. The fact that my partner is a food technologist is a great advantage for the company and enables the rapid development within the factory. In our field, if you don’t produce something new, you simply cannot compete with similar companies worldwide”, Peretz concludes. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Innovative advanced mechanization sometimes makes all the difference between a leading profitable company and yet another company producing a similar product. Advanced mechanization developed by two Israeli manufacturing companies with the assistance of the Israel Innovation Authority, provides them the advantage required to prosper in the competitive markets in Israel and overseas<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":4268,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"template":"","magazine":[181],"geographic_location":[],"class_list":["post-4009","article","type-article","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","magazine-advanced-manufacturing"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/innovationisrael.org.il\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2023\/06\/tivit2_1-1024x665.png\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nSmart Technology Opens Doors to New Markets<\/h4>\n\n\n\n