ISHIDA has revealed how the firm’s multi-head weighing technology has enabled a Swiss pasta manufacturer to cope with both growing sales and a move to paper bags, after investing in three new machines.
Pasta Premium has introduced paper bags for its Bschüssig brand. The change in packaging, coupled with an increase in demand initially triggered by the pandemic, led to the need for new packaging lines.
The company selected Ishida’s mid-range multihead weigher, the CCW-RVE, which is described as ‘ideal’ for free-flowing dry products such as short cut pasta. With many companies switching to more sustainable forms of packaging, Ishida explained its weighers are able to handle formats including recyclable film and paper versions.
“We wanted to use Ishida multihead weighers for packing our pasta because we have already had very good experiences with previous Ishida models,” said Simon Hofer, head of technology at Pasta Premium.
Pasta Premium commissioned Ishida’s local distributor, Itech AG, to design a packaging solution. Two 14-head CCW-RVE weighers are handling short pasta at target weights from 100g to 450g. Speeds are up to 35 bags per minute, with accuracy to within 1g.
The pasta is fed through an inlet chute onto the weigher’s dispersion table. A loadcell regulates the feed quantity, and individually controlled radial feeders convey the product evenly to the pool hoppers.
Ishida said it takes just a fraction of a second for each weigher’s microprocessor to calculate the combination of weigh hoppers that comes closest to the target weight, with advanced automatic feeder adjustment and five-stage digital filtering enabling them to operate with ‘outstanding’ accuracy.
The pasta is then discharged directly into the paper bags via discharge chutes that incorporate anti-swirl fins to ensure a fast and accurate product transfer.
The third CCW-RVE model in operation at Pasta Premium is a 14-head GS (Gentle Slope) model, used for more delicate pasta such as tagliatelle and pasta nests. The machine features shallow angles and reduced drop distances between feeders, hoppers and discharge chute, a gentle slope discharge chute with anti-swirl fins, and a ring shutter to prevent product collisions in the discharge chute.
The GS model runs at up to 28 weighments per minute, with weighing accuracy of 1g per bag.
The three pasta lines are currently used in a two-shift operation. “All three Ishida weighers are proving to be highly reliable with only a minimum of maintenance required,” said Simon Hofer.
The flexibility of the weighers was hailed as another major advantage. The three models allow for ‘fast and frequent’ changeovers between more than 100 products by calling up the correct preset on their touchscreens.
“The multi-head weighers help us to produce and pack small batch sizes efficiently and to secure a niche in the highly competitive pasta market,” Simon Hofer added. “The reliability and durability of the weighers and the long-term availability of spare parts also fit in with our sustainable corporate culture.”
