Case study: Two gluten-free brothers increase productivity with two easy-to-clean conveyors
The GFB (aka The Gluten Free Bar) company came into existence in 2010 after two brothers, Marshall and Elliott, were looking for quality gluten-free options to support their own gluten intolerances. The brothers started their business by creating a better ingredient gluten-free protein bar. They chose to start their own facility because they wanted to create jobs, contribute to their local economy, and be able to keep a close eye on quality. The Grand Rapids, Michigan business has grown and added several flavor options, bites and oatmeal to their line of healthy gluten-free products.
As with most start-up businesses, The GFB initially relied on their team of employees to manually make their products. Their operators would fill a 5-gallon bucket with GFB Bites and walk them up the stairs where they would dump them into the packaging machine’s hopper. As the company grew and they developed more products, the brothers recognized the need to start automating some of their processes. In 2015, The GFB contacted Dynamic Conveyor of Norton Shores, Michigan for a conveyor system to feed their GFB Bites to their packaging machine. “We’ve come a long way since then,” said Paul Vilker, operations manager, at The GFB.