Ishida Europe has devised a fast multihead weighing and packing line which addresses the issue of product giveaway.
The CCW-RV-228 includes a 28-head model from the company’s RV series that is achieving 400 packs per minute for fruit snacks manufacturer Stream Foods.
Working in tandem with a 16-head RV model, the 28-head machine weighs primary packs from 16-30g of the company’s Fruit Bowl range of fruit flakes, yoghurt-coated flakes and raisins, and fruit shapes.
This combination delivers 80 multipacks per minute for five-packs, reducing the demand for the three remaining multihead weighers which were linked to a counting eye.
Before, these weighers were only capable of achieving 100 effective primary packs and 20 multipacks per minute.
The machines have now been redeployed to add value on more specialist products where speed and output are less critical.
As well as quadrupling the speed of the packing operation, accuracy levels have also improved with the CCW-RV-228.
“Product giveaway is something we particularly wanted to address with this new installation,” explains Stream Foods’ factory manager Andy Spall.
“Just half a gram overweight in a 20g pack quickly amounts to a huge amount of free product over a single production run.
“With the Ishida solution, we are now constantly to within a tiny fraction of the target weight.”
As well as the two multihead weighers, the Ishida solution included the supply of conveyors and a flighted elevator, and incorporated Stream Foods’ existing Ishida DACS-G checkweighers along with the two bagmakers specified by the company.
In addition, Ishida has supplied its pioneering IDCS II – Integrated Data Capture System – for the checkweighers, enabling Stream Foods to closely monitor its production and packing operation in order to provide early warning of any problems that could affect the overall speed and efficiency of the line.
Ishida products are distributed in Australia by Heat and Control.
