The installation of two Ishida Fresh Food Weighers (FFW) at Mack Service has resulted in product giveaway being reduced from around seven to one per cent. The leading specialist fresh fruit supplier expects to achieve payback on the weighers within 18 months due to these improvements in accuracy and speed.
The FFWs form part of a mini convenience packing line at Mack Service’s Southampton factory and are being used to pack a variety of mixed and single fresh fruits for leading retailers into 160g to 460g trays.
The Ishida FFW was specifically developed to enable fresh, sticky and difficult to handle products, which previously could only be weighed and packed manually, to benefit from the combination weighing principle for improved accuracy. Operators deliver the product along linear belt feeders that distribute it evenly to the weighing units, where specially developed hoppers with anti-stick scraper gates ensure a smooth reliable and consistent product flow through the weigher.
For the installation at Mack Service, each of the FFWs are divided into two sections, enabling up to four types of fruit to be handled at different weights for discharge into the same pack. The specified line speed is 25 packs per minute but speeds over 30ppm are regularly being achieved and single fruit can be packed at a speed of up to 40 trays per minute. Prior to the installation of FFW, the product was weighed by hand.
“Our key priority was to reduce giveaway,” said Gary Kennedy, Mack Service operations manager. “We already had the QX-775 for the sealing of the trays, so it was a natural move to ask Ishida to provide a solution to improve weighing performance. And as well as the vast improvements in accuracy, the increased level of automation means we have halved the number of people required on this line, freeing up personnel for other duties.”
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