The Client: Freshtime
is a Lincolnshire producer of value added, ready to eat vegetable and salad products
The Challenge: Improve the process of weighing their products into the tray
Freshtime approached Packaging Automation looking for a solution to a very manual element of the packing process with high labour costs and the potential for high value give away. They were aiming to speed up the preparation of products and improve pack weight accuracy therefore reducing give away.
The Solution: MiWeigh weigh scale system
PA’s R&D team worked closely with Freshtime, to develop the hardware and software to optimise the setup of weigh scales, improve the weighing of products into trays and punnets with a data collection system and simple to understand visual go-no-go graphics.
The Result: Faster and more accurate weighing
The MiWeigh system has now provided a cost saving product that has had a direct impact on Freshtime’s financial performance, improving accuracy and efficiencies of weighing.
"The new weigh scales have transformed our business, on average give away on some of our high cost proteins are as low as 1% which is a saving of up to 4.5% compared to before MiWeigh was installed and we are seeing some speeds have almost doubled from 12 weights per minute to 21 per minute.
We now have visibility of training needs which is provided by the system and have a more accurate and truer picture of the packing cost per unit from the batch report generated from each run. The scale interface is very simple to set up and helps reduce the need for line operative training".
Matthew Codd, Continuous Improvement Manager