Position: The article's content is about the Multihead weigher and checkweigher manufactured by Berglandmilch which is use in cheese packing.
Austrian company Berglandmilch has invested in a multihead weigher and checkweigher from Ishida Europe, enabling it to pack grated cheese accurately into bags to within 1g of target weight.
Berglandmilch is the largest milk-processing company in Austria and also has a 60 percent share of the cheese market.
Berglandmilch's Gienberg site operates two processing lines and is the company's central packing facility for a wide range of grated cheese.
The company's aim was to supply the product to the retail trade in re-sealable bags.
In order to weigh the grated cheese, with its sticky consistency, Berglandmilch needed a highly efficient multihead weigher.
Accuracy was of particular importance, as every gram of excess weight in the bag means wasted product, which would amount to around EUR40,000 (GBP35,300) per year.
Berglandmilch turned to Ishida Europe for a solution.
Ishida integrated a CCW-RS multihead weigher into the packing line, along with a DACS-W checkweigher.
The cheese is first fed in blocks to the line via a conveyor belt and is then pre-cut and grated.
An ascending conveyor transports the product up into the air and the cheese is continuously fed to the multihead weigher through a chute from above.
A vibration system ensures a controlled and gentle flow of product to the weigh hoppers.
Additional hardware and software allow maximum productivity.
The flow of product to the trays on the dispersion table is controlled by a load cell and the intensity of the vibrations from the vibratory feeder troughs is adjusted automatically.
The 14-head Ishida CCW-RS multihead weigher works according to the combination weighing principle, whereby the built-in computer instantaneously calculates all possible weight combinations in the available weigh hoppers and selects the one combination (typically three to four weigh hoppers) that comes closest to the target weight.
The weigh hoppers are made from stainless steel with embossed surfaces, which prevents cheese from sticking to them.
The CCW-RS weigher is in use five days a week at Berglandmilch in two-shift and three-shift mode.
With every single variety of cheese that is processed, a throughput of 60 weighments a minute is achieved.
The multi-head is able to weigh so precisely that the level of giveaway is no more than 1g per bag.
Pre-set weight specifications for the different cheese varieties can be called up via the touch screen, allowing fast changeovers and meaning that only one to two employees are needed to operate the entire packing line.
The line is water resistant and easily accessible, so that cleaning can be performed quickly and without the use of tools.
'The precision and speed of the Ishida multihead weigher are impressive and the potential output is so high that we have not yet been able to make full use of it,' said Alois Kronberger, head of production, Berglandmilch.
'The investment is paying for itself more quickly than we had anticipated,' he added.
The Ishida DACS-W checkweigher delivers a maximum output of 270 weighments per minute and features a fully integrated metal detector.
The checkweigher provides additional assurance that the bags of cheese are the correct weight and that they are free of any metal contamination.
For Berglandmilch, the primary motive in purchasing the checkweigher was to establish an additional safeguard and prevent complaints.
In addition, a quality packing controller is enable the packaging equipments work more safely and efficiently.
Berglandmilch has now ordered another checkweigher for another packing line.
