Kotivara and TIPPER TIE: A Shared Vision for Quality
Oulu lies on the Baltic coast and is Finland’s fifth most populous city. Family-owned sausage maker Kotivara has made its home in Oulu since opening its doors during the war time in 1943. The name Kotivara roughly translates to home storage. “It refers to keeping important food stuffs with you in case of emergencies,” explains Tomi Tanayama, Kotivara production and quality manager.
Tanayama sees the essence for Kotivara summed up in one word – quality. “We are a small company, so we have to produce tasty and high quality products.” What they do produce is a superb line of meaty, well-spiced salami products, particularly so-called “Russian” salami. They offer many varieties like pepper, garlic, and chili from a genuine St. Petersburg recipe, according to the company website. “We have a long curing time: an average of five weeks. So it’s very dry and premium quality,” relates Tanayama. “They’re also very tasty. My co-workers and I eat a lot of it here – our own quality testing!”
Shoppers all over Finland and Sweden find Kotivara products in their local supermarkets. They recognize the savory salamis by their distinctive orange package. For decades, orange has been Kotivara’s traditional salami code.
Performance and Dependability Stand Apart
Successful meat producers eventually reach a point where throughput capacity threatens to constrain growth. They have two choices: increase capacity or lose momentum. In 2013, Kotivara realized that its clipping capacity needed a serious boost and began searching for a new clipper system. “When we invest in a new machine, we look at many angles,” recalls Tomi Tanayama. “Quality is essential because our product’s appearance is important to the customer.” After considering several suppliers, Kotivara followed the path of familiarity. “We chose the TIPPER TIE SV4800 clipper because of the good opinions from other users,” says Tanayama. “Also, it was very close to the design of our old SV4600, which we still use today. We tested other brands before buying, and the SV4800 turned out to be the best alternative for us.”
Tomi Tanayama also appreciates that the SV4800 is easy to use. As for improving capacity, he estimates a 10 – 20 percent increase in speed.
TIPPER TIE describes the SV4800 as the fastest spreading voider for U clips. It closes plastic, fiber, and collagen casings in calibers up to 160 millimeters at up to 120 cycles per minute. The spreading voider system also enables the processing of ham products, which suits Kotivara well. In addition to all kinds of salami products, they also produce some cold-smoked hams.
Since 2000, Kotivara has relied on another TIPPER TIE system as an integral part of its production process. Fifteen years later, the TIPPER TIE/Alpina 550-liter bowl cutter is still delivering the consistently precise emulsions essential to making premium salami. “It’s high quality, reliable and easy to use. It works well after all these years,” says Tanayama. The Swopper550 bowl cutter is a tremendous contributor to Kotivara’s overall capacity – a maximum of 20,000 kilograms per day, according to Tanayama.
Quality and Support Drive Praise
After years of working together, when Tomi Tanayama considers TIPPER TIE as a supplier, his impressions are influenced by what he and his employees experience every day. In areas like product quality, problem solving, and technical support he gives consistently favorable scores. He would gladly recommend TIPPER TIE to his peers. “Kevin Alpina (TIPPER TIE distributor for Finland) has been our partner for 30 years. That’s a long and successful history for us.”
About Kevin Alpina
Kevin Alpina Oy has served Finnish customers together with TIPPER TIE/Alpina for over 30 years. The family oriented company is very experienced in meat processing. Together with TIPPER TIE, Kevin Alpina is able to offer effective production lines with reasonable running costs. Kevin Alpina Oy has also invested heavily in after-sales services and stocking of parts and consumables.