THE CHECKWEIGHER CHALLENGE
Oscar Mayer chooses AEW Delford Guardian 2200 Checkweighers following extensive trials
Oscar Mayer, based at Chard in Somerset, is one of
the UK’s leading producers of ready meals – supplying a wide
variety of chilled meals to the major multiples.
Originally part of Hygrade Foods, the company started life as a meat
processing plant in London after the second world war. It purchased additional
premises in Somerset in the mid 1980s, where – as Oscar Mayer – it
became one of the first manufacturers of ready meals. Starting with just
12 staff, it began small scale production of just 800 meals a week.
Today, Oscar Mayer produces over 140 different chilled, short shelf life
foods, such as pastas, ethnic dishes, snacks, traditional casseroles
and potato-topped dishes – as well as a range of healthy eating
foods. It also accommodates a variety of aluminium and CPET trays, in
sizes up to 900gm. Every recipe is manufactured on -site, including fresh
pasta, and pre-cooked for re-heating by microwave or oven cooking.
The Oscar Mayer site comprises three floors, with production of different
foods on each floor. Operating seven days a week, 16 hours a day, each
floor features a number of production lines, with a combination of hand
and automatic filling before weighing and packing.
Frequent changeover & washdown
Because of its large range of products, most of which are produced everyday,
Oscar Mayer has many line changes – with runs as short as 15 minutes.
As a result, it is vital that all line equipment can accommodate the
frequent washdowns between product changes (typically 10 a day) and a
big clean down each night.
Some eight years ago, Oscar Mayer moved from hand weighing to automatic
check weighing. After limited testing, they decided on a particular make
and model which was installed on several lines.
Although promoted as waterproof, the company suffered continual problems
with the checkweighers. John Wake, the company’s Engineering Manager,
explains:
“We were disappointed with the original supplier's checkweighers from
day one. They were not well protected, making wash-down difficult and
creating major maintenance headaches. The units were lightly engineered,
we couldn’t keep the bearings lubricated and the conveyor drives
were particularly problematic. This meant we were spending a considerable
amount on spare motors every month – and experiencing significant
down time too.”
Delford meets the checkweighing challenge
Recently, as part of an upgrade programme, Oscar Mayer had a requirement
for additional checkweighers and John Wake began to investigate alternative
suppliers. However, thanks to his previous experience, he had little
confidence about finding check weighing machines that could perform well
under the production conditions.
Whilst searching for checkweighers to trial, John received a sales letter
from Delford – a company he was not familiar with – promoting
its Guardian 2200 Checkweigher as a fully waterproof
system. He called, specified his requirements and Delford provided a
trial machine for a
month.
The Guardian 2200 Checkweigher is designed specifically to cope with
arduous environments. Constructed from stainless steel with food quality
belts throughout, it exceeds the requirements of IP66, allowing high
pressure hose down.
“Delford’s commissioning engineer came in with
the trial checkweigher to demonstrate it and leave it for our hygiene
staff to do their worst! “ said
John. “It was refreshing to find a machine that did what it promised.
Our guys blitzed it, hosing down the whole thing – even the colour
display head – and over the month it proved faultless. We also
found it easy to set up and train the operators.”
Since the successful trial, Oscar Mayer have purchased a number of Delford
Checkweighers for the site, making significant and immediate savings
in production, with reduced maintenance and downtime.
EDITORS’ NOTES
The Delford Guardian 2200 Checkweigher
Ideal for fresh and frozen products, whether poultry, fish, meat or ready
meals, the Guardian 2200 offers excellent flexibility at throughputs
of more than 180 packs per minute. Various reject systems: air blast,
drop flap, pusher or deflector, are available according to the fragility
of products and belt widths of 200-400mm are optional to suit the application.
The Guardian 2200 features modular software for ease of operation and
programming. Up to 200 pre-programmed memories can be accessed via the
keyboard. Multi-line networking and RS232/422/485 link facilities are
available for optimum production control.
For reliable accuracy, a sensitive, shockproof weigh cell and independently
driven weigh table ensure consistent weighing to 1g (according to product
size). Average or minimum weight programmes are standard.
Optional Metal Detector
The Guardian 2200 is also available with an integral
metal detection unit as an optional feature.
