Smooth landing for meatballs
03 July 2009
A multihead weigher has helped Swedish food manufacturer Dafgård achieve gentle, accurate weighing of meatballs into bags at the high speeds required
Gunnar Dafgård AB is a large Swedish family business in the food sector. Established in 1937, Dafgård is run by Gunnar's sons, Thomas and Ulf, and has a turnover of E190 million. The company supplies products to consumer (through its Dafgård, Gorby's and Billys brands, and private labels) and foodservice markets, including the contract to supply meatballs to Ikea.
Dafgård needed weighing equipment for a range of products on its meatball processing line at its factory in Källby, as Christoffer Sundberg, the company's assistant plant manager explains. "Our target speed is 100 bags per minute but it is vital the integrity of the meatballs - which can break apart during handling - is maintained. Many suppliers we talked to couldn't guarantee this combination of speed and delicacy in handling.
"Only Ishida could provide a suitable solution for all product sizes. During tests, the machine was able to achieve speeds of up to 120 bags pm, far outstripping the required capacity."
The Ishida CCW-M-214 has been designed to handle food products that require gentle, controlled handling. A low angle, reinforced dispersion table with concealed fixings, semi-flat radial feeder troughs with waterfall end and safe edges, and double opening hoppers with cushioned, easy down inserts ensure the product moves quickly through the weigher without the risk of product damage.
In addition, the gentle slope configuration of the discharge chutes with a set of metal guides, which reduce the fall speed of the product and prevents the meatballs from colliding, thus allowing a quick product transfer into the bag-maker.
The Ishida weigher is integrated with a VFFS bag-maker, creating a fast, accurate and efficient packing operation. Target weights range from 5-350kg for various retail packs. Christoffer Sundberg says Dafgård has been impressed with the performance of the weigher. "Ishida trained a Dafgård engineer in how to service the multihead weigher but he reports he's never needed to put his knowledge to the test."
Contact Details and Archive...
Related Articles...
Most Viewed Articles...