Weighing systems especially tailored for fast food

Marco Weighing Systems' bespoke ProRange weighing products have been specifically developed for the food manufacturing industry with a special emphasis on the ready meals production.

Based on 20 years of hard won experience, Marco Weighing Systems' bespoke ProRange weighing products have been specifically developed for the food manufacturing industry with a special emphasis on the rapidly expanding ready meals markets.

Although there is a basic concept running through the range, Marco are keen to point out that each product is tailored to meet exactly each specific customer's needs.

Kerry Foods is just one example of their success.

During ongoing discussions with Kerry, Bernie Waters, Marco's Sales Manager was invited to see the ready meals production area at their Burton-on-Trent plant.

As with any ready meals operation, reliable and accurate scales are a vital part, and any problems are expensive, not just in replacement costs, but above all, in lost production time.

Kerry had tried four different types of scales but none of them were capable of meeting the demands of the working environment and the breakdown rate and repair costs were far too high.

As Dennis Hutton, Kerry's Operations Manager for the Burton Plant explains: "Our rapidly changing work patterns and strict hygiene standards impose severe conditions on the weighing equipment.

Although the scales in themselves appeared to be robust enough, they were not surviving being accidentally dropped when tables were moved or during cleaning procedures.

We could not accept the high ongoing costs associated with repairs and replacements and therefore spent considerable time and effort looking for a company that could provide a workable solution.

Unfortunately it appeared that most scale companies were more than happy to supply or repair more and more equipment, without spending any time analysing our underlying problems.

When we found Marco Weighing we soon realised that they were genuinely interested in coming up with a solution." After observing the operation at Kerry Foods and seeing some of the broken scales, it very quickly became obvious to Marco that the stand-alone scales being used were totally unsuitable for this application.They recognized that Kerry needed scale benches not bench scales ! In other words, the solution was to integrate the scales into the tables to create complete workstations.

Marco's enviable reputation as a leading supplier of weighing solutions has been built on a simple yet extremely effective philosophy -providing all the requirements of their customers in the most cost effective and reliable way.

This is achieved by spending time listening to the customer and understanding their management and operational procedures.

This includes discussions with both senior management and shop floor operators.

The ProRange, fully stainless steel custom scale benches, have given Kerry a number of important advantages.

Firstly, because the scales are part of the workstations, the complete units, which have wheels at one end, can be moved around without fear of the scales falling off.

Even if the operator forgets to unplug the scale before moving the bench, then at worst, only a new plug or power lead needs fitting -a simple task which can be quickly performed in house.

Secondly, the scale platter is now at the same level as the bench providing a much more convenient and comfortable working height for the operator, as well as providing more usable work space.

Thirdly, the clean lines of the complete bench and scale allow cleaning to be carried out much more effectively.

Finally, although the complete benches have initially cost more than the stand alone scales, savings gained through improvements in production and near zero repair cost, have meant that the initial investment has been paid back in a matter of only a few months.

Kerry now operate less scales, in the knowledge that they have the highest reliability.

As Dennis Hutton concludes: " We are delighted with the way Marco have approached our problem.

We were struggling with other scale suppliers but Marco looked at the bigger picture.

In this way, they actually identified the underlying problem, instead of just trying to sell us more scales and telling us to be careful.

They spent time studying how we operate and talking with our employees.

Their solution is like a breath of fresh air.

Our repair and replacement costs have fallen considerably and Marco's Assistcall service back-up ensures we are never without scales.

The work benches can now be repositioned to meet our ever changing demands quickly and without damage to the scales." Kerry now operate over 30 ProRange benches and in addition Marco have been commissioned to refit several dormant floor scales with fully sealed stainless steel load cells and waterproof junction boxes to eliminate problems from water ingress.

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