ISHIDA has revealed that solutions to help businesses deal with ‘key’ challenges facing the food industry will be demonstrated on its stand at this year’s Scanpack.
The manufacturer said its range of equipment on display will show how automation can help to make a difference in all areas of the packing line.
Highlights include two specialist multi-head weighers and Ishida’s recently introduced IX-G2-F X-ray inspection system, which have been developed to meet the challenges of fresh protein applications.
The CCW-RV-214-SF, Ishida’s screw feeder weigher, has enabled the fully automated handling of sticky fresh products. The manufacturer said the technology uses rotating screws to provide a ‘powerful, controlled and fully automatic’ product feed to the weigh hoppers. This is said to reduce giveaway and automates the weighing process for difficult to handle products. Speeds are further ‘maximised’ thanks to the RV’s triple combination calculation software. In a single cycle, Ishida explained this calculates three optimal weight combinations, double checks them and selects the one nearest to the target weight.
The CCW-R2-106B Fresh Food Weigher (FFW), meanwhile, provides an alternative semi-automatic solution for handling very sticky fresh and bruise-sensitive products and is described as particularly suitable for factories with height limitations. The weigher can receive product from a conveyor belt to the top of the weigher, where one or two operators distribute it via belt feeders to the weigh hoppers.
Ishida explained the FFW’s ‘ergonomic’ layout makes it easy to spread out products on the feeder table and the belt feeders facilitate a ‘precise and consistent’ product feed to the hoppers. Features such as scraper hopper gates, ribbed surfaces and scraper gates on the collection belt conveyors have been added to minimise product sticking.
The IX-G2-F dual energy X-ray inspection system incorporates a new line sensor that provides an X-ray image through an ‘enhanced’ signal to noise ratio. This, Ishida said, has an increased capability to detect bone fragments by a factor of four compared with previous X-ray models.
It is also said to enhance the ability of the machine to identify foreign bodies, in particular when handling thicker and denser products such as chicken fillets, chicken breasts and poultry products where they can often be overlapped or presented with uneven surfaces.
Completing the line-up will be two of Ishida’s entry-level quality control solutions, the IX-EN-4093S X-ray inspection system working in combination with the DACS-GN-SE checkweigher.
The IX-EN-4093-S incorporates Ishida’s Genetic Algorithm (GA) image processing technology. It can detect foreign bodies including steel, aluminium, tin, glass, stones, dense rubber, plastic, bones and shells. The X-ray technology can also carry out additional quality checks such as identifying damaged or missing items, weight estimation and counting components.
The DACS-GN-SE-WP utilises Ishida loadcell technology while the availability of AFV (Anti Floor Vibration) tech is said to increase accuracy in environments susceptible to floor vibration. In its IP65 certification, the checkweigher is described as ‘ideal’ for challenging wet environments.
The DACS-GN-SE can be fitted with Ishida Retail Reject Confirmation (RRC) to help food manufacturers meet retail codes of practice. It is also available with the Ishida Data Capture System (IDCS II), a software that captures data from every pack that passes across the checkweigher and generates real-time displays and reports which Ishida said focus attention on cost-saving opportunities and improved Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE).
