Product category:
Food and drink manufacturing: processing equipment
News Release from: Marco | Subject: Fully traceable weighing system
Edited by the Manufacturingtalk Editorial
Team on 13 March 2003
Bespoke recipe system integrateed with
management
Wanting a more efficient recipe blending system which could also be integrated within its existing management system a drinks manufacturer chose a bespoke recipe system.
A bespoke recipe system supplied by Marco Weighing Systems is helping leading soft drinks manufacturer AG Barr plc, ensure their Irn-Bru is keeping its strength up AG Barr still bears the name of Andrew Greig Barr who was the main driving force behind the early growth of the business set up in Falkirk by his father Robert, in 1880, as a side line to his bottle cork making business
This article was originally published on Manufacturingtalk on 22 Dec 2006 at 8.00am (UK)
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In 1901, at around the same time that Dr John Stith Pemberton was introducing an unknown drink called Coca Cola to the US market, Robert Barr 'invented' his legendary Irn-Bru drink.
Throughout its life, this fascinating drink, originally called Iron-Brew, has captured the imagination of consumers both young and old, through an exciting and humorous promotion approach, based on the accolade that it was 'made in Scotland from girders'.
It is interesting to note that in the early 1900's, the giant horses used to pull the drays delivering Irn- Bru were almost as famous as the drink itself.
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The most famous of these was said to be Clydesdale Carnera who, legend has it, was the largest working horse in the world at that time, weighing in at over one tonne.
Today's chairman, Robin Barr, is the fourth generation of Barrs at the helm of this highly successful family business which has grown to become the UK's largest independent soft drinks manufacturer, with an annual turnover in excess of GBP 120 million.
Their success lies in the hard work and dedication maintained over the last 100 years, based on the simple philosophy of providing their customers with high quality soft drinks with 'character'.
The Barrs operation at Mansfield is responsible for the manufacture of the company's range of bottled drinks including Irn-Bru, Tizer and Orangina.
The manufacturing process involves mixing weighed amounts of minor ingredients, including special essences, preservatives, colourings and flavours, together with water, sugar and citric acid.
Batch sizes typically vary from 1000 to 8000 litres with weights of minor ingredients, consisting of liquids and solids, varying from 10 kg up to 100 kg.
The essence for Irn-Bru consists of over 30 special ingredients.
The exact recipe is still a closely guarded family secret and the essence is mixed by Robin Barr in Scotland.
As demands on production increased, Barrs realised that they needed to replace their existing system with a more efficient recipe blending system which could also be integrated within their existing management system.
As shift manager Alan Ollerenshaw explains: "The adding of ingredients is a manual process and keeping a check on the weight of each ingredient going into a particular batch, together with ensuring that all the required ingredients have been added, is very difficult.
The amounts of each ingredient put in a batch are critical, not just for quality but also for commercial reasons, with some of the ingredients costing several hundred pounds per kilogram.
The old weighing system had become somewhat unreliable and required two people to carry out each weighing, one to do the actual weighing, the other to keep check.
The procedure relied totally on operator efficiency and any distractions or errors leading to an incorrect batch often only came to light after the final product had been produced.
Furthermore, trying to keep track on raw material usage and product traceability was almost impossible." However, finding the right solution which met all their requirements proved to be more difficult for Barrs than they anticipated.
On one hand, they found that traditional manufacturing software houses had no real comprehension of recipe weighing systems, whilst on the other, most traditional weighing companies could not offer a fully integrated package.
One thing was clear, Barrs wanted single responsibility for the complete system.
The solution proposed by Marco Weighing turned out to be exactly what they were looking for- a fully traceable weighing system which ensured optimum batch consistency.
Marco Weighing Systems is a small, yet dynamic company which has rapidly built an enviable reputation designing and supplying bespoke weighing and control solutions for industry.
Their success is based on a remarkably simple approach - spending as much time as necessary discussing the requirements with the customer's key personnel - from operators on the shop floor through to senior management.
All their systems are based on a proven modular concept which is tailored specifically to customers' requirements.
Marco are adamant that they will not cut corners which may jeopardize the functionality and reliability of a particular system.
The solution offered by Marco combines the company's high reliability weighing equipment with their inspirational TRAC-IT software suite.
TRAC-IT fully encompasses all facets of factory data capture and is based on industry standard operating platforms.
The DataMaster system can either operate as a stand-alone 'Centre of Quality' or be integrated with MRP or ERP systems.
Ingredient weighing is carried out at two PC-based, DataMaster stainless steel work stations.
These form the hub of the recipe application and are designed to incorporate the weigh scales, working surfaces and operator interfaces, all at optimum working height.
The hygienic construction affords the utmost corrosion protection and the sealing integrity of critical components allows the most stringent washdown procedures.
The scheduled work plan is loaded into the relevant workstation, depending on the materials and weight requirements to complete the batch.
Operators select the job they wish to complete and are prompted for the first ingredient.
They then confirm the correct raw material selection via bar code scanning, thus ensuring that the correct batch/lot has been selected and recorded.
All the scanners incorporate RF wireless technology allowing the operators to easily locate the bar codes on the raw materials, without the added constraints of a cable.
Although the workstations are fully digital, operators also have an analogue bar graph which indicates weight change.
It has been shown that this is a highly effective method for displaying and controlling operator-initiated filling processes.
Operators rapidly 'tune in' to such displays and stop adding the raw material nearer to the minimum tolerance rather than the maximum.
Weights below the target are shown as amber, changing to green in the acceptance zone.
If the operator allows too much product to be poured, the graph goes red and an out of tolerance message is shown, preventing the operator proceeding further.
However, if too much of a particular raw material has been added, the batch can be automatically re-sized under supervisory control.
In this situation, all target weights are recalculated without affecting batch composition.
The comprehensive display at each station shows all manufacturing instructions together with any pre and post weighing prompts that may be appropriate, including relevant health and safety instructions and general product information.
As Alan Ollerenshaw concludes: "We have been pleased with Marco's professional approach and attention to detail.
They have provided us with a system where we can now control all our production scheduling from a central location and our stock records can now be automatically updated as product is used.
The operators are comfortable with the new equipment and the consistency of our batches has improved considerably.
We have full traceability for all our drinks and data records are stored electronically for easy reference.".
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