About

Mercanti Specialty Foods is a Canadian food manufacturing company that specializes in producing high-quality frozen lasagna. Mercanti is a CFIA-certified facility committed to safety, consistency, and great taste. The company has been in business since 2016 and has grown to 18 employees.  Mercanti has customers in the retail as well as food service industries mostly in Ontario and some sales in Eastern Canada.

Project

Mercanti Specialty Foods product, Mama Yolanda’s Lasagna is experiencing an increase in demand that will soon render the current production equipment and staff unable to keep up.  In this project supported by the Development and Commercialization program, Mercanti  will look to develop be a bespoke semi-automated station that will allow for automated ingredient dosing without removing the human assembly element. The company will leverage The McMaster Manufacturing and Research Institute (MMRI) TDS site for their expertise in automation to provide technical analysis and process measurement techniques during the initial benchmarking and retrofitting.

Impact & Outcomes

Through this project, Mercanti’s goal is to increase Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE) from 245kg/hr to 490kg/hr., doubling our production capacity. This is essential to meet growing customer demand, reduce lead times, and support long-term scalability. By implementing automation, Mercanti expects to double their throughput within 12 months of project completion, resulting in a 40% increase in revenue and a 30% reduction in production costs. This efficiency gain will allow Mercanti to expand into new markets and increase order volume. The company expects this growth to lead to the creation of 6- 8 new full-time jobs in operations, maintenance, and logistics.