THREE Ishida x-ray inspection systems are said to have boosted quality control at Slovakia’s largest croissant manufacturer.
Frost Prešov has invested in three IX-EN-2493 systems, designed to maximise food safety and help ensure a consistent quality for filled croissants.
The business supplies a range of fresh and frozen baked goods to the central European market. A popular product line are croissants containing a variety of fillings such as chocolate, apricot, or marmalade, individually wrapped in 60g pillow packs.
The three Ishida machines are working across three lines to inspect approximately 18,000 packs of croissants per hour in a 24/7 operation. In order to handle such high volumes, the systems incorporate a high-capacity belt system described as being capable of speeds up to 75 metres per minute.
The IX-EN models are performing two different quality control checks. Firstly, they carry out foreign body detection for companies, with the ability to identify and reject packs containing metal, rubber and other contaminants even at these high inspection speeds.
Equally important to Frost is the missing item feature of the range, which can detect croissants with missing or defective fillings. Before delivery, Ishida’s technical team worked with Frost to maximise the effectiveness of the missing item feature. A range of samples was sent to Ishida Europe’s UK HQ, where tests took place to ensure croissants with out-of-spec fillings were reliably rejected. Central to this is Ishida’s Genetic Algorithm (GA) image processing feature, which optimises product inspection for greater sensitivity to specific contaminants and quality issues.
“The Ishida x-ray systems are easy to use and to clean, making staff training straightforward,” said Vladimir Varga, technical manager at Frost. “Of particular benefit to us is that we don’t have to adjust settings when changing fillings, so this greatly simplifies our production planning.”
The installation marks another milestone in the relationship between the two companies with Frost already using Ishida x-ray systems for other product lines.
Karel Šmakal, regional sales manager at Ishida, added, “Our long-standing relationship with Frost is a great example of our customer-centred approach. Working together to find the best solution, whatever the specific technical challenge, is very much part of Ishida’s mindset of being a partner rather than just a supplier.”
