The installation of an Ishida Semi-Automatic Weigher at a specialist French organic pork producer has saved the company 4.4 tons of product giveaway per year, leading to a ROI under three years.
The Ishida six-head Semi-Automatic Weigher with 1.6 qt hoppers fills trays with 5.3 oz of smoked and unsmoked lardons, delivering accuracy to within 0.1 oz of the target weight, a clear improvement in weighing consistency and accuracy. Equally important, the efficiency of the new packing operation means that the process now requires just two operators, a 33% reduction.
The first operator delivers the lardons to the top of the weigher, where the second operator distributes them across a row of belt feeders, which in turn automatically transfer the product to a row of weigh hoppers. It then takes just a fraction of a second for the weigher to select the combination of hoppers whose combined weight comes closest to the 5.3 oz target weight. The lardons are then transferred via a distribution system into the trays, which are subsequently placed on a conveyor belt for sealing and metal detection.
The Ishida Semi-Automatic Weigher incorporates ribbed contact parts which are ideal for all types of fresh, sticky products to keep them moving throughout the weighing process.
Smoked and unsmoked pork are diced, accurately weighed, and filled into trays for efficient packaging.
The Ishida Semi-Automatic Weigher incorporates ribbed contact parts which are ideal for all types of fresh, sticky products to keep them moving throughout the weighing process. In addition, the compact dimensions of the weigher enable it to fit easily into the restricted headroom of the factory.
The weigher was installed as part of the company’s move to automate its 100% organic lardon production line, which accounts for some 20% of its output, in order to increase production, to achieve greater pack accuracy, and to improve the working conditions for the operators, who handle the product at a temperature of. The Ishida solution was selected after a thorough review of several competitor solutions. "…The machine is highly reliable and has allowed us to become more efficient. With two operators instead of three, we can free up a worker for another task," confirmed the quality director. The IP65-certified Ishida Semi-Automatic Weigher is cleaned daily; the very thorough process takes one hour, of which only 10 minutes is required for the tool-free dismantling and reassembling of the weigher's contact parts.
