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Materials Testing
News Release from: Marco | Subject: LineMaster portion control system
Edited by the Manufacturingtalk Editorial
Team on 11 August 2006
Weighing portion control system
A second six station LineMaster portion control system supplied by Marco Weighing Systems is bringing cost savings and improved productivity to leading prepared vegetable supplier Exotic Farm Produce.
A second six station LineMaster portion control system supplied by Marco Weighing Systems is bringing further dramatic cost savings and improved productivity to leading prepared vegetable supplier Exotic Farm Produce Lincolnshire based Exotic Farm Produce, which is part of the well respected John Rannoch Group, are specialists in packing fresh vegetables for supply to major supermarket chains and retailers
This article was originally published on Manufacturingtalk on 22 Dec 2006 at 8.00am (UK)
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As consumers, we have now become accustomed to buying convenience 'fixed weight' packs of ready-to-cook fresh succulent vegetables, including products from the peas, beans and exotics ranges.
However the diversification and irregular shapes of the products can be a major headache when it comes to packing.
The delicate nature of the vegetables dictates that they need to be hand packed rather than automatically using linear or multi-head weighers.
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Marco has been endorsed by the success of its packing and handling solution for leading soft fruit experts Winterwood Farms.
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Production of Marco's innovative LineMaster portion control scale has passed the 1000 mark- testimony indeed to this remarkable product introduced only three years ago.
In parallel the weight variances between individual items may be as high as 20% and therefore trying to meet average weight legislation, whilst minimising giveaway, is extremely difficult, especially in packs which may contain only a dozen or so items.
As Exotic's Factory Manager David Cordes explains: "With a total plant throughput of up to 250,000 packs per day we have to be efficient in all aspects of our business.
Products like asparagus are notoriously difficult to pack and our level of giveaway in packs can be excessive.
Initially we were somewhat sceptical of Marco's projected improvement claims but their system has reduced the giveaway below our initial target.
Based on this success we ordered the second line of LineMasters, which is now allowing us to optimise the packing of other difficult products." The Marco solution for Exotic Farm Produce is an optimum blend of modern technology, ergonomics and mechanical interfacing.
The first system was installed for single packs of asparagus and packs of multi-component vegetables, whilst the latest one is dedicated to sweet potatoes.
The LineMasters are set up to operate as 'takeaway' workstations, all connected via secure RF links to a central Editor PC running Marco's inspirational Trac-IT MES (Manufacturing Execution System) software suite.
Takeaway weighing technology is well established in such food packing operations: rather than achieve target weights by adding product to the tray placed on a scale, product is weighed out from larger containers and the loss in weight recorded.
This gives a much faster process by eliminating double handling and provides greater control of consistency and final weight.
The LineMaster's sixteen high intensity tolerance indicators rapidly guide the operator through the portion weighing process via the unambiguous traffic light display.
The unit also features a two line, twenty character display.
This clear and concise messaging panel is used in conjunction with LineMaster software to display information on current production status.
The key to the LineMaster installations is Marco's unique automatic optimisation (AO) software program, which has proved to be highly effective in the food packing and processing industries.
As David Cordes concludes: "The Marco equipment has brought rapid improvements to our packing lines and with it a high level of confidence that benefits us and our customers.
The LineMaster system records each and every individual pack weight in its database and constantly analyses the data for trends resulting from factors such as changes in operator effectiveness and product batch variations.
Based on this real time information, the AO process continually adjusts the target weight limits at every station in order to optimise the average pack weight.
These subtle changes in target weight limits are transparent to our operators and reduce giveaway to almost zero.
Full data capture of each and every weighment provides us with total electronic traceability.
It also gives us a clear picture of our process in real time, allowing us to react swiftly to any changes.".
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