Solution example - Carrots

Our customer wanted high capacity and a very gentle handling of their product with low drop height.

Newtec was chosen as supplier because of the very low giveaway, our weighers are known for (as low as 0.2% average overweight) and because we could ensure a gentle handling of their product with a low drop height. Most importantly, we guaranteed the required high capacity.

Our most recent combination weigher, model 4015B2G, was chosen for the solution to ensure the requested high speed and accuracy. The weigher is constructed with a new infeed system which ensures optimal distribution of products. Already in the vibration chutes before the weighing pans, the carrots are aligned in order to optimise speed. The new model handles carrots up to 230 mm long. Detachable pans enables easy access for cleaning and service.

We based the packaging solution on two horizontal packaging machines to ensure the requested low drop height. In order to deliver a high speed solution, we designed a Portion Collecting System with four conveyors – two conveyors on each side. Our weigher and PCS were designed to simultaneously feed the two packaging machines. customised infeed hoppers for the bagging machine were designed, so only a few adjustments were needed during installation on site.

Our solution has successfully been in operation since 2012 and as a result, our customer has ordered three more customised installations.

The customer wanted to go from manual packaging of their mix of four vegetables to an automated solution. They were looking for a manufacturer that would help them optimize their production and take them to a higher level with an automated solution. Because they were experiencing many portions being either overweight or underweight, they needed more accurate portion weighing to decrease their percentage of give away.

Their product was soup mix – a mix of four products with a target weight of 650 g to be nicely presented in a punnet.

In reference to the demanded weighing accuracy, we did not have any concerns, because that is the core competencies of our weighers. Our challenge was more to settle the four different (shape & size) vegetables in the punnet, so they would look styled and so that it would be easy to cover the punnets with the foil with no products sticking out.

The benefit for the customer was in this case optimized production in general and in particularly:

• Accurate portion sizes
• Reduced give away
• Less repackaging caused by over/under weight
• More portions per minutes with less staff

The two Newtec weighing machines are running exemplary in Spain. The weighing machine, model DL was chosen for the solution because of its ability to separate the products to be weighed one at a time. The DG model is a Newtec weighing machine especially for carrots.

The weight is combined from the best combination from one of each product (parsnips, leeks, turnips) from the DL weigher. The remaining weight comes from the DG weigher (carrots). The tricky part was to have the product weighed out last placed in the punnet first. The function of the collecting pan system is that products weighed last (in this case carrots) will be placed in the bottom of the punnet.

The Newtec packaging machine BD2 with index conveyor and special collecting pan system is smoothly supplying the line with two punnets at a time with the accurate portion sizes from the two weighing machines.

An Index conveyor is a ”special” type of conveyor which is used for transporting punnets in steps of a specified length.

With a capacity of 40 portions per minute, there should be plenty of opportunities for the Spanish consumers to find the soup mix in the refrigerated counter of the supermarket.