The Ishida six-head CCW-R2-106B with 1.5 litre hoppers at Salaison Bio Valeur (SBV) in Ille-et-Vilaine is being used to fill trays with 150g of smoked and unsmoked lardons, delivering accuracy to within 3g of the target weight. Equally important, the efficiency of the new packing operation means that the process now requires just two operators, instead of the three previously needed.
The first operator delivers the lardons to the top of the weigher, where the second operator distributes them across a row of belt feeders, which in turn automatically transfer the product to a row of weigh hoppers. It then takes just a fraction of a second for the weigher to select the combination of hoppers whose combined weight comes closest to the 150g target weight. The lardons are then transferred via a distribution system into the trays, which are subsequently placed on a conveyor belt for sealing and metal detection.