Addition of a new Ishida multihead weigher improves meat maker’s throughput

Wierzejki, one of Poland’s largest meat manufacturers, recently installed a new Ishida multihead weigher, which has considerably improved the company’s production line throughputs when packing its new dumpling range. This investment has resulted in a payback period of approximately 18 months.

The Ishida CCW-RVE-214W-1S-30-WP has replaced a laborious and time-consuming hand packing operation, which required six people to achieve the required 1.2 tonnes of dumplings to be packed every hour. Even more concerning was the amount of product giveaway that manual weighing caused, where packs could be as much as 25g over their target weight. Thanks to the new Ishida weigher, overall losses have been significantly reduced from five per cent to less than two per cent per pack.

Adam Zdanowski from Wierzejki noted how “precision is everything” in the business and that it was the “driving force behind our investment in the Ishida solution”.

“And, of course, the Ishida multihead brings important economic benefits through the weigher’s high accuracy and consistency as well as significant efficiency improvements and the elimination of human error,” Zdanowski added.

The CCW-RVE-214 is weighing dumplings mainly into 400g packs but is able to handle a large variety of pack weights, including multiple weighments into the same pack for very large foodservice packs, using the “multi-dump” mode. This gives Wierzejki the flexibility to respond quickly to market and customer demands.

The consistency of pack weights that the Ishida weigher delivers helps to enhance the consumer experience to support Wierzejki’s premium brand image.

The Ishida RVE model features its patented pulse width modulation (PWM) technology, which provides greater control of the infeed of product at the top of the weigher and during transfer to the hoppers. By being able to automatically vary both the amplitude and duration of vibration, the vibratory feeders deliver a controlled and consistent flow of product in order to maintain speed and efficiencies while virtually eliminating overfill in the hoppers. Embossed surfaces facilitate a smooth product flow throughout the weigher.

A special distribution system beneath the Ishida weigher provides a fast and efficient transfer of dumplings into the thermoforming machine.

The Ishida multihead is in operation for 12 hours each day. Thanks to its intuitive touch screen operation, set up and changeovers are easy to undertake, requiring only one operator to supervise the line. The weigher’s modular design allows easy removal and replacement of contact parts for a fast and thorough daily clean down.

This is the second Ishida multihead weigher to be installed at Wierzejki and like the first, which Wierzejki reports has been working perfectly for over two years, the new model has proved extremely reliable.

“Because we already knew of the weigher’s accuracy and reliability, Ishida was the obvious choice for this further investment,” said Adam Zdanowski. “In addition, as this is a specialist application, Ishida’s experience with our type of products was also a key factor in the decision to invest in the new multihead weigher.”

The weigher was installed by Ishida’s long term local partner in Poland, Fenix Systems. Installation was completed in under two days and Fenix hosted a one-day workshop to help operators familiarise themselves with the machine, as well as providing ongoing remote technical support.

“Our new Ishida weigher has given us increased accuracy and efficiency, and no downtime, together with excellent service and support, all of which are delivering significant improvements to the bottom line,” concluded Mr. Adam Zdanowski “Today it is hard to imagine dumpling production without the Ishida multihead weigher.”

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