The leading provider of weighing, labelling and inspection technologies presents new products and powerful software tools that ensure safety and efficiency in the processing and production of food.
Foodex Manufacturing Solutions is taking place 24-26 April in the heart of the Midlands at the NEC, the UK’s leading trade event for the food and drink processing, packaging and logistics industries. In the exhibition halls in Birmingham, the new Vision Inspection product from Minebea Intec will be on show, see us on stand N130.
The new product VisioPointer® is one of three new Vision Inspection products from Minebea Intec and further enhances the already popular inspection portfolio. It is also one of the key products that helps drive automation within food production and manufacturing. Combined with the Automatic Weigh Price Labeller WPL-A customers can automate their entire end of production line where labelling plays a significant part of the manufacturing.
The Automatic Weigh Price Labeller (WPL-A) will also be available to view at the show alongside the Static Weigh Price Labeller (WPL-S) providing visitors with even more solutions for their end of line production.
Food Safety and Efficiency
Peter Walker, Country Manager for UK and Ireland commented: ”Legal compliance, labour shortages and demands for increased efficiency are just some of the issues faced by food manufacturers not to mention the desire to reduce packaging, waste and be more environmentally friendly. Increasing pressures on factory managers are forcing more parts of the production to become automated which is where Minebea Intec can offer expert weighing, labelling and inspection solutions.”
A typical production line can be broken down into three distinct stages. This starts with incoming raw materials and the manufacture of goods. Following on from this is the packaging and packing of goods, with the third stage being final dispatch.
During the first stage, the truck delivering raw materials will be weighed on a weighbridge using Minebea Intec truck scale components to record the volume of material arriving on site. Bulk material such as sugar, flour or bulk liquids can then be placed in silos or tanks mounted on load cells which feedback to process controllers to accurately record stock and material movements. The same process controllers can be used to automate the movement of the materials in and out of the vessels by controlling valves or pumps. Equally, palletized or boxed materials such as cheese, meat or ingredients can be weighed on high precision floor scales.
Raw materials can be inspected by Minebea Intec Vistus® Freefall metal detectors (available to view at the show) or even X-rayed on Dymond Bulk X-ray systems. This helps to protect process equipment further down the line from damage caused by foreign bodies in the product and adds to efficiency by keeping lines running.
Once the raw materials are delivered and checked often the manufacture of the final product requires batching or formulation of a recipe. Using suitable load cells in the Minebea Intec range coupled with the powerful ProRecipe XT® recipe management software brings consistency of recipe and efficiency within the manufacturing process.
Compliance checks
Once the goods are made and sent to be packed it is necessary to monitor their weights for both legal and process control reasons. Minebea Intec manufactures a wide range of scales, which are both accurate and verified. These can be used to test the necessary samples from the production line and record the data required for legal proof. The Combics® scale (available to view at the show) is very popular for this application and to makes the process quicker and easier, it can be supplied with on board Average Weight control software meaning that instead of lengthy records and calculations a simple traffic light system informs the operator whether packs are acceptable or not and prints out the results. To further improve efficiency these scales can be networked to Minebea Intec’s SPC@Enterprise (see a demo of this at the show) data collection and process control software.
In-line checkweighers such as the Flexus® (available to view at the show) provide an even greater level of accuracy, which eliminates the need for operators to perform regular checks. As they monitor 100% of production, they can bring efficiency to the process in the control of the filling machine to ensure that packs are not only meeting legal requirements but also that the producer is not giving away extra product. Minebea Intec checkweighers also produce reports, either locally or by connecting to the same SPC@Enterprise system, which satisfy the legal requirements without the need for any additional records.
Packaged goods need to be inspected by either metal detection or X-ray. Minebea Intec has a wide range of both, so whether metal checks are required in non-metallic packaging or whether metal and other foreign bodies need to be checked for in a range of packaging, including metallic there is an inspection solution for every product.
Labelling, Vision and Completeness Checks
Before reaching the dispatch stage, products often require some sort of labelling. That could be an automatic weigh price labeller such as the WPL-A for products where weight is variable such as cheese, meat or fish; or static labelling using the WPL-S for boxes at dispatch (both will be at the show). Once products are labelled, the new Minebea Intec VisioPointer® which is also available to view at the show provides a substantial quality check to give manufacturers complete peace of mind. Mark Clifford, Business Account Manager says: “The multiple uses and configurations of this system include top, base and side cameras which enables packs and products to be checked from any side. Common applications include label verification, both for content and position, identification of seal contaminations and further packaging details.”
He continues: “The machine is also capable of product inspection such as bruising and blood spots in salmon, bread bake colouration and dimensioning, and shape recognition for products like buscuits in variety packs. For hard to see applications, hyperspectral cameras can be used to distinguish between products”.
There is a range of Minebea Intec products available to check for completeness of outer packaging, for example ten boxes of product in a case or for a record of the quantity of product leaving the building. The range includes inline checkweighers that are able to check and record the results of the checks of heavier products as well as a range of floor scales for weighing palletized goods.
Discuss food safety and efficiency with us at Foodex this April
There will be a variety of operating machinery at Foodex this April; inspection, weighing and labelling specialists will be on-hand to answer questions and assist with customer enquiries.
We look forward to welcoming you to our stand N130.
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