Multihead weigher is helping high-growth  brewery crisp brand with fast changeover

An Ishida multihead weigher is allowing Swiss-based Brauerei Locher to implement changes easily among its three sizes of pack, while keeping maximum overfill to a mere 1.2g per bag.

The 10-head Ishida CCW-SE3-210 weigher receives crisps from an upstream vibratory feeder, directing product across 10 radial feeder troughs to the same number of pool and weigh hoppers.

The supplier explains that a loadcell in the dispersion table ensures that the flow to the radial feeder troughs, which can be individually adjusted, remains constant. High-performance stepper motors manage the hoppers, ensuring the process remains smooth.

The weigher then selects a combination of values from weigh hoppers (usually three or four) which comes closest to the selected target weight. These are dosed via a transfer chute directly into the bagmaker below the weigher. Ishida’s digital filtering software means that weight combinations can be calculated to an accuracy of 0.1g. The line packs up to 50 bags per minute.

Based in Appenzell in northeastern Switzerland, Locher makes the nutrient-rich by-products of brewing into a range of foods. It launched its Tschipps crisp brand in 2017, utilising a combination of barley malt wort, yeast and first wort for the snack, which is said to be growing at 30%-40% per year. Locher produces 10g, 30g and 90g packs.

Once fried, the product is conveyed into the seasoning system. The downstream multihead weigher is housed on a separate gantry to ensure that vibrations from the seasoning drum do not affect it. The intermittent-motion vertical bagmaker below the weigher has an integrated metal detector. Filled packs are then transferred to a rotary packing table.

Ishida says its CCW-SE3-210 weigher is easy to operate and designed for maximum hygiene. Changing products and target weights by calling up pre-set parameters at the touch of a button make changeovers time-efficient. All contact parts can be removed, cleaned and re-installed without the use of tools, the supplier adds, reducing the time required for changeovers and cleaning.

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