FRESNO, CA - While our industry is fresh produce, there is so much that goes on behind the scenes to get fruit and vegetables from the field and into consumers’ carts. One company that has been working hard to streamline the logistics and technology of our industry since the 1950s is Volm Companies.

I had the chance to catch up with Daniel Mueller, President and CEO, at PMA Fresh Summit to get the inside scoop on Volm Companies, its history of innovations, and where the company is heading in the near future.

“Volm Companies was started in the 1950s as a general store by my grandfather, and customers would come to him to buy used burlap bags. And from that we came to where we are today. We are the supplier for both packaging and equipment for fresh produce; it’s our specialty,” Daniel said to me.

Daniel noted that Volm first offered equipment solutions about 20 years ago after noticing its customers’ need for a more efficient way of filling their bags.

Since developing more efficient solutions two decades ago, the company has kept innovating, Daniel explained, with much of what the company is working on showcased at this year’s PMA Fresh Summit.

“This year at PMA, we’re very excited about the labor savings that we’re showing off,” continued Daniel. “We’ve been doing robotic palletizing, but we’ve solved the problem of doing consumer packaging into bins. We’ve had some customers save anywhere from 14 people on their palletizing line because of the solutions that we can offer with that.”

For the full details on Volm Companies, check out our brief video above.

Volm Companies