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Weekly UpdatesA new packing line for frozen foods, featuring an Ishida multihead weigher and devised and installed by Ishida's Belgium agent BRN, has increased throughput while being able to cope with 800 different products in a variety of formats at leading contract packer Sivafrost N.V.
The new line installed by BRN includes a lift/tipper for octabins serving a 3m3 feeding hopper, a vibratory feeder to take product from the hopper to the top of the multihead weigher, the weigher itself (a 14 head Ishida model) and the supporting steelwork.
The IQF products handled by the line range from herbs to potato waffles, with target weights from 50g to 3000g. To cope with all these, the weigher has a standard configuration, with ring gate, semiflat radial feeder troughs, 5 litre size antispillage pool and weigh hoppers and a beak-type timing hopper at the outlet.
The new system is coping well with the demands of contract packing. "We are very satisfied with the BRN production line and with the integrated Ishida weigher," comments Stign Siongers of Sivafrost. "We are achieving very high speeds which is most important for us."
Sivafrost has a wide range of customers and can be called upon at short notice to handle any of about 800 different products in any of 20-30 formats. "The facility which the Ishida offers for storing so many programmes and product data as presets, so we can easily switch products, is a big advantage," says Mr Siongers.
One of the trickiest things about low-temperature work is the tendency of product residues to stick to the weigher contact surfaces and then freeze on, meaning frequent cleaning of the equipment is required. A major advantage of the Ishida weigher is that contact parts can be easily lifted off and taken outside the cold area for cleaning. Special products are used for cleaning the non-contact parts at low temperatures.
The new line operates in a two-shift system. This means that for rush jobs, which are a frequent occurrence in contract packing, an extra shift or even two can easily be added.
Contact Ishida Europe on tel 0121 607 7700 or visit www.ishidaeurope.com
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