Product category:
Testing, analysing and monitoring equipment
News Release from: Avery Weigh-Tronix | Subject: Avery Weigh-Tronix checkweighing installation
Edited by the Engineeringtalk Editorial
Team on 05 March 2007
Checkweighing installation reduces
product loss
John Baarda's new checkweighing installation automatically shunts over filled punnets to checking stations, keeping lost stock to a minimum.
John Baarda has reduced its product giveaway for on the vine tomato packs after installing a checkweighing installation designed by Avery Weigh-Tronix In the past, Baarda always sold by minimum weight, which meant that they had a lot of product giveaway, as much as 100g on a 500g punnet
This article was originally published on Engineeringtalk on 10 Oct 2007 at 8.00am (UK)
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The fresh produce grower has opened the UK's largest year round tomato growing facility in Billingham, England.
When it is fully operational it will produce about 10,000 vines a year, which will grow about 7000 tonnes of tomatoes to be supplied to supermarkets around the UK, including Sainsbury's.
Tomatoes are picked in the glasshouse and sent to the packhouse for weighing, wrapping and labelling.
With the new system, punnets are placed on a conveyor and sent over a dynamic checkweigher, an Avery Weigh-Tronix Checkpoint M.
If they are within the tolerance, they are sent to the wrapper and then to a second checkweigher which keeps the average weight records.
If they are outside the tolerance, they are shunted off to a second packing line.
There, the operator places the punnet onto a manual checkweigher with an E1210 indicator and adjusts the contents to within an acceptable level.
They then put the pack back on the conveyor, where it goes to the wrapper and final dynamic checkweigher.
The second checkweigher also continuously communicates back to the manual checkweighers the weighing trends and automatically adjusts the band on the manual machines.
This ensures minimum product giveaway.
"Historically we had poor control over product giveaway, between eight and 16 percent", said Tim Howarth, Business Development Manager for John Baarda.
"With the new system, we are now able to drive to e-weights".
In addition to the savings associated with reduced giveaway, Baarda has found that it can monitor the overall line performance and output.
This readily available information would not have been collected from a manual system and the company is currently evaluating the new data to optimise their line system and minimise double handling, if possible.
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