At its manufacturing facility in Milton Keynes, UK, Huel has invested in Ishida multihead weighing, X-ray inspection and checkweighing technology to support flexible production, ensure product quality and deliver consistent performance across a growing range of nutritionally complete food products.
Founded in 2005, Huel is a global food and nutrition company operating in the plant-based, complete nutrition and functional food sectors. With a mission to make nutritionally complete, convenient and affordable food with a lower environmental impact, the company manufactures a wide range of powdered meals, ready-to-drink shakes, protein products and ‘greens’ supplements. The Milton Keynes site produces pre-blended ingredients for further manufacturing, a range of powdered products, and instant meals.
As production volumes and product diversity increased, Huel required weighing and inspection solutions that could provide the flexibility, accuracy and reliability needed to support future growth. The result was the installation of Ishida multihead weighing, X-ray inspection and checkweighing systems across several production lines.
Fact and figures
- One Ishida CCW-RVE 24-head multihead weigher installed on the single-serve sachets production line.
- Ishida X-ray inspection and DACS checkweighing systems are installed across all production lines.
- The X-ray inspection systems detect foreign bodies as small as 0.5mm in diameter.
- Equipment operates across multi-shift patterns
- Product changeovers on the X-rays and checkweighers take typically just five minutes.
Challenge
With Huel looking to establish its first dedicated manufacturing facility back in 2019, the company needed robust weighing and inspection technology that could accommodate a broad product portfolio while supporting future innovation.
The site’s production lines handle a wide variety of products and pack formats, ranging from single-serve hot meal sachets and protein powders to larger, multi-serving nutrition products weighing up to 2.25kg.
As Huel frequently develops new products and enters new markets, operational flexibility was a key requirement. The company required weighing equipment capable of accurately dosing larger product inclusions without damaging ingredients, while inspection systems needed to deliver high-speed contamination detection and consistent weight verification across multiple production lines.
In addition, Huel wanted a single-solution provider that could be deployed across different applications, simplifying operation, training and maintenance.
Solution
Huel selected Ishida due to its strong reputation within the food industry, extensive market presence and the flexibility offered by its equipment. The multihead weigher provided a competitively priced solution, while the ability for post-installation modifications meant Ishida could support Huel’s changing manufacturing requirements.
The installation includes:
- An Ishida CCW-RVE 24-head multihead weigher.
- Ishida IX-EN-4093-S X-ray inspection systems.
- Ishida DACS-GN series checkweighers.
- Integrated product feed systems for the multihead weigher.
- Integrated rejection and quality control processes across all lines
On the sachet production line, the Ishida multihead weigher accurately doses large product inclusions used within Huel’s hot meal products, eliminating the need for processes that could potentially damage ingredients. The supplied feed systems further enhance weighing efficiency and consistency.
The installed X-ray inspection systems provide a range of advanced quality control capabilities. In addition to the ability to detect a broad range of foreign bodies, the systems can be taught to recognise and ignore approved and critical product components, such as measuring scoop and sauce sachets, thereby reducing false rejects and providing an additional layer of quality assurance.
At the end of each line is an Ishida DACS-GN series checkweigher, which provides precise weight verification together with production data reporting, trend analysis and feedback control to the upstream dosing equipment.
Results
Since installation, the Ishida systems have provided Huel with the accuracy, flexibility and reliability required to support fast-moving production environments and ongoing product innovation.
The X-ray and checkweigher systems can be changed over between products in as little as five minutes, including completion of all critical control point checks. This allows production teams to respond quickly to changing schedules, SKUs and product requirements.
The Ishida multihead weigher incorporates intelligent features that automatically adjust feeder settings following cleaning procedures or production restarts, helping to maintain consistent performance while minimising operator intervention. The ability to fully open hoppers enables efficient cleaning.
Across all lines, the inspection equipment operates reliably in a multi-shift pattern. Optimum production speeds are achieved while maintaining stringent quality standards and contamination detection capabilities.
The equipment’s ability to be customised and altered after being installed has also enabled Huel to adapt to evolving production requirements. After Huel decided to switch from larger packs containing 13 servings to single-serve sachets to suit market demand, Ishida worked closely with Huel to modify the original multihead weigher configuration to support changing operational needs, ensuring the investment continues to deliver value as the business grows.
Matthew Iredale, Automation Project Engineer at Huel UK, said: “The flexibility of the Ishida equipment has been particularly valuable for our business. As we continue to develop new products and enter new markets, the systems have been able to adjust alongside our needs. The equipment is highly reliable, so unexpected downtime very rarely occurs. I’d even go as far as saying the multihead weigher is our most reliable machine in the factory. They’re also easy to operate and train, and deliver the accuracy and inspection performance we need to maintain high-quality standards across all our production lines.
“What also really stands out to me is Ishida’s service. Service engineers are always on hand to help, the design and software team are also so knowledgeable and their collective support is what has helped us to grow, hit our OEE targets and enable us to expand our offering.”
For more about Ishida Europe, visit www.ishidaeurope.com
Innovations in Food (& Beverage) Processing & Packaging is a bi-monthly magazine distributed globally in Digital format. www.innovationsfood.com. X: @Innovfoodtech. Instagram: @innovationsinfoodtechnology. Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/terry-prior52
