Successful automation at Swiss dairy Biedermann AG: The Emmi Group company has installed an Ishida multihead weigher for dosing cereals and nuts. The product mixtures are packaged as separate additions for yoghurts and desserts.
Yoghurts and dessert creams with separate ingredients are popular with consumers. To ensure that the cereals or nuts remain fresh and crunchy until they are mixed together, they must be stored separately from the product. The dual-chamber cup offers a packaging solution based on the top cup principle: a smaller cup or bowl is placed on top of a larger one and also functions as a lid. The company is experiencing growing demand in this segment. However, the existing filling system for the cereal and nut mixes was no longer able to meet the increased demands. The volume dosing by means of vibration caused a massive loss of product. „Up to 30 per cent overfilling occurred,“ reports Operations Manager Mario Dux. „This was perhaps still acceptable for small quantities, but our production volume is increasing all the time.“
Sophisticated system concept
To ensure precise dosing of the high-priced products, the Dairy Biedermann the purchase of a multihead weigher. However, modernising the packaging process was a challenge. The new multihead weigher was to be combined with the existing rotary filling machine, and there was little space available. The concept of Itech AG (Rotkreuz), the Swiss representative of Ishida, was convincing. „Itech AG had the very good idea of placing the multihead weigher one floor higher in our warehouse and connecting it to the packaging line via an opening,“ explains Mario Dux. This solves the space problem and the products can be fed directly from the warehouse stock over a short distance.“
A multihead weigher was installed Ishida CCW-SE. The 10-head machine is the ideal entry-level model to benefit from the advantages of multihead weigher technology. Compared to dosing machines, linear scales or manual methods, speed and accuracy can be increased many times over.
(Photo: Ishida)
Mobile distribution system with storage tray
The cereal and nut mixes are fed to the multihead weigher via a trough-shaped vibrating chute. A weighing sensor in the distribution disc automatically adjusts the product feed and ensures a constant supply. The vibration of each chute can be individually adjusted to optimise product feed to the trays. A microprocessor calculates the optimum combination for the target weight in fractions of a second. The precisely dosed product portions are then discharged into a storage tray and from there through a flexible pipe towards the filling area. A mobile distribution system equipped with a further storage tray was installed above the rotary filling machine. From there, the product is discharged directly into the packaging with pinpoint accuracy.
Gentle and effective dairy filling
The Biedermann dairy currently processes five different products with the Ishida CCW-SE multihead weigher. This has shown that the target weights of between 14 and 25 grams are achieved very accurately. The standard deviation of a 25-gram dosage, for example, is only 0.165 grams. Operations manager Mario Dux attests to the weigher's „sensational efficiency of 99 per cent“. The filling speed of 25 cycles per minute is set by the rotary machine and the weigher could perform up to 70 weighings.
„In the past, heterogeneous product mixtures in particular were tilted in the hopper during dosing, which interrupted the filling process,“ explains Mario Dux. Today, the Biedermann dairy can easily process such more challenging products with the multihead weigher. The flexibility gained gives the manufacturer the opportunity to realise new product ideas from the marketing department.
Score points with a quick changeover
The Biedermann dairy produces the Top Cup products in comparatively small batches in order to guarantee high quality thanks to a short lead time. Frequent line changeovers are therefore the order of the day. The product changeover by calling up presettings at the touch of a button proves to be a valuable „time saver“. All product-carrying components can be removed and reinstalled without the use of tools for quick cleaning of the weigher. The „very good operability“ is also praised. Operations Manager Mario Dux summarises: „The automation was a big step forward for us.“ Immediately after installation, everything worked smoothly, which is also remarkable.
