Auction involves sale of entire processing, packing lines

The growth of auctions of used factory machinery worldwide provide opportunities for managers topick up brand name parts and equipment they may need to start lines or to upgrade their plants.

The availability of second hand food machinery also helps smaller companies get into the marketquickly without having to make a big spend on new equipment -- providing processors with the abilityto make adjustments to their production lines faster. Trends in the food industry have also beenrelatively unpredictable in recent years, leading more and more companies to rely on the usedequipment market to keep apace with constant changes.

The auction in Grimsby is being held on 29 November by Clark Fussells, a company which deals only withselling used food processing and packaging equipment. All the equipment at the Grimsby plant was purchased between 2004 and 2005 andthe majority was only used for six months, Clark Fussells' operations manager, Denise Nash, toldFoodProductionDaily.com.

She said the company selling the equipment did not want its name revealed. Clark Fussells holdsauctions of food plant machinery about once a month she added.

The equipment at the Grimsby plant, located at Estate Road No 7 can be used for processing and packagingchicken nuggets, burgers, frozen mince, vegetables, fish products, confectionery and savoury goods,Clark Fussells said in a statement. The machinery is still installed in the plant and will be sold insitu​.

All of the big machine maker brands, such as Yamato and Ishida, are featured in the sale. Thereis a complete packing hall with multi head weigh heads, volumetric fillers, form fill and seal machines and end of line packagingequipment.

The machines up for sale include a twin drum high volume salad spinner, all stainless steel single chambervacuum packers, numerous incline slatted belt conveyors, trimming and packing conveyors, flowtroughs, robot coupes, Eillert slicers, Urschel RA and VSC machines, Oliver Douglas tray and utensilwasher, an Ilapak Vegatronic machine, bulk tippers for dolafs, vibratory feeders, screw augers, a Loma micro metaldetector, a Pulsarr 102 colour sorter, an Ishida vibratory feeder and holding hoppers, among others.

A Mercedes motor car S320 silver 2003 is also included in the list of the hundreds of items forsale.

Food production is a major industry in Grimsby, and is the town's prime source of income.

Clark Fussells' next auction is on 6 December in Liverpool, Merseyside. About 500 lots of food processing equipmentis up for sale due to a reorganisation of Sayers Bakery.

Another forthcoming auction, for which no date has been announced, involves the sale of vegetableprocessing equipment in Brandon, Suffolk.