Ishida Europe shares footage of its multihead weigher
Scott Coley, service engineer, Ishida, demonstrates the RV multihead weigher washdown. This particular model was developed specifically for the fresh and frozen food sectors as it has waterproof features for easy-cleaning and fast changeovers after dealing with “difficult” products.
Belgium-based Ansolive, which supplies and distributes olives and Mediterranean products, bought several Ishida CCW-RS multihead weighers recently to cope with a major company expansion.
The firm supplies supermarkets in Belgium, the Netherlands, France, Spain and Scandinavia but has now entered the German market and is planning to launch operations in the UK.
Its continued growth meant the capacity of its five original production lines became too small. It began construction of a 6,000m2 production area in 2010 to expand its original 4,000m2 operation and has now added five automatic production lines to the seven semi-automatic lines already in place.
Increased production
“Thanks to the new automatic lines, our production capacity has increased greatly,” said Muzaffer Öztürk, managing director, Ansolive.
“At the old site, we could fill 30,000 pots per day. Today, the five automatic lines supply a capacity of 60,000 pots – and even 120,000 pots if we work in two shifts. This is on top of the 30,000 packs that we still produce on the old lines.
“We supply fresh products without additives or colorants, which are not pasteurised or sterilised. Internal and external audits are carried out to monitor the correct application of hygiene regulations in accordance with HACCP standards.”
Ansolive has built refectory and sanitary areas that are completely separate from the working environment. To enter the work space, all employees must pass through a sluice gate, identify themselves with a badge and put on protective gear, such as gloves, overshoes and a head covering, as well as washing and disinfecting their hands.
The work area has also been designed as a cleanroom with a special system for continuously cleaning the air of organic substances. The cleaned air also passes through a UV zone in which all bacteria are killed.
ISO Certification
Due to its strict hygiene standards, the company has been awarded certification to ISO 22000:2005, BRC version 6 (Level A) and IFS version 6 high level 2013.
The Ishida CCW-RS mulithead weighers contribute to this clean environment with their hygienic WP ‘waterproof’ construction.
At the start of each automatic line, products such as olives, peppers and dried tomatoes are transported via a belt elevator to one of the five 16-head weighers. These are capable of handling both mono product and two-mix applications (such as olives and peppers or olives and feta cheese).
After weighing the products are discharged into one or two plastic pots (depending on the required production capacity), which are automatically presented underneath each weigher. The pots then pass underneath a liquid filler to add oil or sauce and are sealed in a protective atmosphere (MAP) to preserve the freshness of the ingredients.
The sealed pots go through a lidding machine and labelled while a laser printer applies a production code on the lids.
At the end of the packaging process, the pots are automatically stacked and placed in cardboard boxes which are transported to the palletising area and placed in a cold storage facility. f two pots are filled at the same time, the maximum capacity is 60 pots per minute per line.
The five Ishida multiheads were supplied and installed by Ishida’s Belgium distributor BRN, based in Aalst. Ansolive chose the 16-head models because they can operate at high speeds and handle large production throughputs.
