Pictured: The Ishida RS mix-weigher delivers mixtures of an
accuracy that fully meets retailer quality requirements
A new Ishida 4-mix multihead weigher is helping a major Serbian
supplier of frozen fruit and vegetables deliver product mixtures
which fully measure up to the expectations of customers.
Founded in 1992 by the Žunić family, Libertas Ltd
grows, processes, packs and ships quality frozen produce for some
of the best-known retailers in Europe.
Libertas offers more than 10 different frozen fruits as
individual products. But it wanted to enter the important retail
market for mixtures of four to six fruits, which typically appear
in supermarkets branded as 'Summer Fruits' or 'Mixed Fruit'.
The packs of frozen mixed fruit or vegetables must contain an
accurate mix, to match the colourful on-pack illustrations and
contents listing.
A multihead weigher divided up to function as several separate
weighers is the recognised and highly effective solution, because
it can accept several different product streams and weigh them into
a pack to produce a highly accurate mix.
And after seeing the machine in use on two different sites,
Libertas purchased a 4-mix Ishida RS-Series weigher with 16
heads.
The Ishida weigher is divided into four quadrants, each of which
has four pool, weigh and booster hoppers. The dispersion table is
also sectioned into four parts, each with its own product infeed.
It is able to function as four very fast and accurate separate
weighers due to the state-of-the-art combination calculation system
recently developed by Ishida.
Bags and trays are equally popular retail packaging methods for
mixed fruit and vegetables, and the new Ishida machine means
Libertas can pack either. Weighed product can be passed directly to
a bagmaker or, via a filling system, deposited in a tray.
Changeover from bags to trays takes just a few minutes.
Current target weights are 300g, 400g, 450g and 500g for trays,
and 400g, 450g, 500g, 1kg, 2.5kg and 10kg for bags. Libertas' new
mixture-packing line is currently running at up to 35 packs per
minute (ppm) for bags and 32ppm for trays. It has doubled
production of these products while reducing the labour needed by 90
per cent.
Yields have also increased. The accuracy of the Ishida multihead
is such that giveaway on a 500g pack is down from 5g to under
1.5g.
Because of the improved accuracy, Libertas is now able to supply
frozen fruit mixtures to several large European retail chains,
meeting all their quality requirements.
The purchase by Libertas followed a presentation from Ishida's
Serbian agent, CD System d.o.o. of Belgrade, as well as the visit
to two reference sites.
And Libertas says the good co-operation between Ishida and its
long-standing local agent was key to the successful completion of
the installation.
"Ishida's and CD System's professional approach and project
management guaranteed us a smooth installation, on time and to
performance specification", says Libertas Trade and Financial
Manager Slobodan Žunić.
General Manager Ivan Žunić confirms: "Ishida and CD
System proved that they have huge experience in handling different
products, including ours. This helped provide us with the best
solution."
The Libertas range of mixes also includes frozen vegetable
products such as its 'Fitness Mix' (parsnip, diced carrot, diced
celery, cut celery and parsley), its 'Grill Mix' (broccoli,
zucchini, aubergine, red pepper, yellow pepper and onion) and its
'Chinese Mix' (bamboo shoots, black mushrooms, mangetout, broccoli,
zucchini, aubergine, red peppers, yellow pepper and onion).