Ishida devised the system while working with Sucralliance, a subsidiary of confectionery group CEMOI.
How it works
Torsten Giese, marketing manager at Ishida Europe, told ConfectioneryNews.com that products are fed into Ishida’s weigher through a vibrating feeder. Small portions of confectionery are then weighed using around 14 hoppers.
A computer selects the correct combination of hoppers that come closest to the target weight and the hoppers are then discharged into the packaging machine, he explained.
Ishida’s weigher reduces the dropping distances products take when passing through the machine compared to a circular system and also add shock absorbing material to cushion falls.
This reduces the amount of breakages by around 1% compared to circular systems used by many major confectioners, said Giese.
Advantages
Ishida claims that Sucralliance had achieved speeds of 50 packs per minute for 150g packs and had ensured 99.5% of confectionery was unbroken by installing the weigher at its Coppelia factory in Grenoble, France.
It previously weighed confectionery by hand, which Giese said could require up to four workers.
Pitfalls
Giese said that the machine was around 20% slower and slightly more expensive than a circular system, but because Ishida’s linear system was on a slide rather than a drop it could manage product integrity more effectively.
“A lot of people aren’t looking for speed, they’re looking for efficiency,” he said.
Alain Collet, production director at Sucralliance, said: “The dragées don’t actually fall, they run downwards along a gentle 45° slope.”
Giesse added that weighing accuracy, reduced downtime and dust control exposure were other advantages with linear
Ishida also supply circular weighers, but claims to be the only producers of linear systems.
