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Feature Packaging equipment Pack fill accuracy - the weigh to go


An international seed company has installed an Ishida ‘Lilliput’ multihead weigher to increase capacity and provide greater control over pack fill accuracy, which is of crucial importance in this competitive business


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single seed often has the poten- tial to produce many kilograms of fruit or vegetables. Yet a Little Wonder tomato seed, for instance, measures just two millime- tres across and weighs less than 0.002g. This large ratio of value to weight means that getting products into packs is a crucial part of a seed merchant’s business and any advance in accuracy can directly affect the bottom line.


The South African compaby Starke


Ayres markets and distributes to com- mercial vegetable growers in many countries across Africa, North and South America, Europe and the Mediterranean as well as Australia. The company also has a strong national retail component supplying hobbyists with vegetable and flower seeds as well as a range of pesticides and plant nutrients. Starke Ayres produces a great vari- ety of pack sizes, mainly within the range 0.33g to 100g. Packing seeds by hand is highly labour-intensive. In manually weighing 1,000 hybrid tomato seeds, for example, overweight at the level of over five per cent is unavoidable in order to be absolutely sure that the pack contents will mea- sure up to the declared content. Knowing that multihead weighing could transform this situation, Starke Ayres looked into the available options and chose an Ishida CCW-M-


214W-S/005-SS. Known as the ‘Lilliput’ because of its small size (it has a 650mm x 650mm footprint and 50cc (0.05 litre hoppers), it is designed to handle very small target weights with great accuracy and speed. The Ishida Lilliput at Starke Ayres has brought giveaway down to just two per cent, a reduction of 60 per cent. This means for every 35 packs or so, a given batch of seed will yield one extra pack. Automatic weighing on the Ishida achieves this while practically eliminating the possibility of any underweight packs reaching the grower, something that manual weigh- ing could never accomplish with such a low level of giveaway.


Seed is delivered to the top of the Ishida using a vacuum system. It passes through the weigher driven by gravity with the assistance of a power- ful vibratory system. To prevent air currents from interfering with the process, the entire machine is enclosed in a transparent case. At the outlet of the discharge chute of the Ishida, weighed product falls into a bagmaker. The filled and sealed bags are bundled and palleted. With manual weighing, the packing process ran at between 15 and 20 packs per minute. The Ishida has increased this by well over 250 per cent, with a typical speed of 52 packs per minute. Apart from the primary benefit of consistent pack weights, the new mul-


With its small foot- print, the ‘Lilliput’ is thought to be the smallest function- ing multihead weigher in the world


tihead has speeded up distribution and increased capacity while markedly reducing labour costs. Starke Ayres also believes it bene- fited from the services surrounding the weigher. “The after sales support and training given by Ishida was outstand- ing,’’ says Tewie Pretorius, factory manager at the company’s vegetable seed packing plant. Isihida T: 0121 6077700


ishidaeurope.com Enter 305


Heat seal machine meets stringent fresh food quality standards H


eat sealing specialist Proseal has launched its high force electric heat seal model suitable for the meat industry. The Proseal GT2X-Twin E-seal is a twin lane high speed,


tray sealer, capable of 120 trays per minute, that combines Proseal’s new E-seal electric sealing technology with functional and reliability benefits of Proseal equipment. E-seal technology is said to provide an energy effi- cient sealing system that delivers a high-precision seal with a strong sealing force, ensuring every seal offers the tightness and reliability to meet the stringent quality requirements of the fresh food retail sector. The machine can also offer additional benefits such as date coding of pre-printed film. The GT2X-Twin E-seal features a servo-driven infeed conveyor and high accuracy tray positioning system for high throughput speeds. An intelligent film feed system ensures full control of the sealing operation said to ensure excellent seal quality, with easy film threading and dynamic control of the movement of the film throughout the film feed cycle in order to maintain constant tension and avoid film snapping.


Factory Equipment SEPTEMBER 2012


menu-driven control panel for ease of set up and operation, which can be remotely accessed and controlled.


The screen also provides detailed production data, production monitoring and full diagnostics. “E-seal® is an important addition to


the Proseal equipment portfolio, giving us even greater flexibility in our ability to tailor our machines to the precise requirements of individual cus-


tomers,” says Tony Burgess, control systems manager. Proseal UK T: 01625 856600 www.proseal.com Enter 306


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The machine offers a rugged construction manufactured to food industry approved hygiene standards with full wash-down protection. It retains Proseal’s Auto Tool connection system, which enables tool changes to be carried out in around five minutes. Downtime is minimised by the use of quick-change conveyor belts, and an auto-lock film reel holder. The new model incorporates a user-friendly


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