12 MACHINERY UPDATE MARCH/APRIL 2022 www.machineryupdate.co.uk
New Machinery
Sticky convenience foods can now be weighed & packed on new line W
ith the new automatic MHW SF Extreme from Cabinplant, sticky products that are often used for the booming convenience foods sector can be weighed and packed automatically. Available in the UK from Sealpac UK & Partners, this fully automated solution is designed to reduce any risks of involuntary production stoppages found with traditional labourintensive production and packaging lines. Cabinplant says that increasing automation in this area has often been limited by the widespread use of sticky ingredients in ready-to-eat products, as the fully automated packaging plants have not been able to handle them. So far, the limit has been reached for fresh products such as chicken and fish, while stickier products have stuck to the weighing machine and have not been able to be packaged properly. In the new multihead
Sticky ingredients used in ready-to-eat meals can be handled by latest system
weigher, Cabinplant’s combination weigher is equipped with screw feeders, new scraper/weighing pans and a new processing solution, where the selected sub-portions are weighed and mixed in a pan. A special scraper design in the pan ensures that the entire portion is dispensed into a cassette. From here, the food is packed into the trays on the conveyor belt. This means dosing and packaging of ready-to-eat
meals, which includes sticky ingredients such as diced vegetables, onion rings, rice, pasta, tuna fish, mayonnaise, yoghurt, etc, can be handled by the system. These processes were often previously performed manually or partially manually. “Now, the production of a large number of ready-to-eat meals can be fully automated,” says Henning Ingemann Hansen, director of research and development at Cabinplant. The end-product can be ready-to-eat meals, which
are packed in plastic trays, or stand-up pouches or bags, depending on customer choice. The cassettes can be replaced, which reduces the time for cleaning and changeover to 5-10 minutes. “This solves the challenges with frequent changes in recipes and packaging sizes at a time when the retail trade wants more varieties as well as more frequent and smaller deliveries than ever before,” says Hansen. In operation, the solution does away with excessive give-away, which is often a problem on manual fill lines. Cabinplant has developed the solution in collaboration with a large, European poultry company that invests heavily in the production of convenience food. Here, operators have been reduced by 8-9 people per line, or 60-70 %. This has increased productivity and reduced the vulnerability of the production line significantly. T 0845 302 3056 W www.sealpac-uk.com
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Wire Belt Company Ltd, Castle Road, Eurolink Industrial Centre, Sittingbourne, Kent ME10 3RF Tel: +44 (0) 1795 421771 Fax: +44 (0) 1795 428905 Email: sales@wirebelt.co.uk Flex-Turn® Conveyor / Ladder-Flex™ Conveyor / Straight Conveyor l NEW open leg frame l NEW simplified wash through design l Easy to clean & maintain l High density blue plastic components
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