TWO Ishida CCW-RV multihead weighers have become an ‘integral’ part of the packing line solution at Hotel Chocolat’s dedicated Huntingdon plant for its Velvetiser drinking chocolate brand.
The Velvetiser brand, launched in 2018, enables the creation of drinking chocolate using sachets of pure chocolate flakes. In order to meet consumer demand, Hotel Chocolat opted to convert existing warehouse space into a dedicated production line for the flakes, enabling a four-fold increase in capacity.
Offering a range of sizes from retail packs to larger variants aimed at cafés and businesses, and over a dozen flavours, weighing accuracy was paramount.
Simon Wood, head of UK manufacturing projects at Hotel Chocolat, said, “Chocolate is understandably temperature-sensitive, the flakes used in the Velvetiser are small but non-uniform in size, and there’s always a residue of cocoa dust created during production. Our choice of weigher had to cope with these factors, as well as delivering the required speed, accuracy and ease of changeovers during 24-hour operation.”
The two Ishida 28-head CCW-RV range multihead weighers with 500 cc hoppers are said to be ‘ideal’ for Hotel Chocolat’s requirements to handle smaller target weights at high speeds. This, Ishida explained, is made possible thanks to improved feeder technology, using pulse width modulation and an integrated AFD (Automatic Feeder Drive) system.
The weigher’s triple combination calculation software can calculate three optimal weight combinations, double check them and select the one nearest to the target weight – all in a single cycle. Ishida added that this delivers ‘highly accurate’ weighing for Hotel Chocolat at speeds of up to 210 weighments per minute.
“The Ishida weighers sit at the centre of a three-level facility, created from scratch in what used to be a warehouse,” said Sylwia Zmuda, manufacturing site manager at Velvetiser. “On the top floor, the chocolate is mixed, extruded and chilled, before being broken into flakes by rollers.
“The flaked chocolate is conveyed to the middle level, where the Ishida CCW-RVs weigh them into the required portion sizes, before they drop down to ground level to be bagged and inspected.”
Given the high production volume, the conveying system is able to transfer the chocolate flakes to two Ishida weighers in order to provide additional capacity, as well as uninterrupted production in the event of machine maintenance.
“It’s a highly efficient system and Ishida provided exceptional training to help our team get the best out of the weighers,” added operations shift manager Snieguole Kaikaryte.
