Exact Packaging

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Whether it is in the food, pharmaceuticals, chemicals or cosmetics industry quantity counts! Down to the last milligram. Especially in packaging technology the use of state-of-the-art checkweighers is indispensable. Requirements in the food and pharmaceutical sector are particularly high: here it is not just about determining the exact weight but also about maintaining the highest level of hygiene.

Legal requirements like the German ordinance on pre-packaged products (Fertigverpackungsverordnung – FPV) ensure that pre-packaged goods actually contain the quantity stated. Modern checkweighers have the task of monitoring, either by random sample or to 100%, whether stated measurements have been met or not. Furthermore, high-quality, risk-free products are a must – often making integrated metal detectors necessary for safety reasons. The yardstick for process safety keeps getting higher, particularly in the food and pharmaceuticals industry. At the same time, demands for flexibility are also growing: load change, changes to production processes and ever smaller quantities are now the order of the day.

Safe Medicine

The production, filling and packaging processes in the pharmaceuticals industry are subject to particularly strict quality and safety control measures. When taking medicines patients must be sure of exact doses – which in production terms means that every pill, stick pack, blister and sachet must contain exactly the same amount of active ingredient. Faulty products can have grave consequences. Yet pills per se need reliable and precise quality instruments: until every single pill is guaranteed to be of the same weight the drug cannot be brought out onto the market. Pill weighing is a very precise process for which precision-weighing checkweighers are indispensable.

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Chocolate, Frozen Goods etc.

Even the handling of chocolate bars, for instance, represents a challenge. Chocolate melts fast, has low abrasion resistance and therefore smears easily. The firm OCS Checkweighers GmbH also offers a special system solution in its portfolio for the manufacturers of chocolate bars that is adaptable and can be extended for similar customer applications. The checkweigher’s belts are food-safe according to the FDA Food & Drug Administration and their special coating minimises sticking should the chocolate smear. The servo motors are also located on the side of the belts rather than underneath them. This ensures the heat emanating from the motors does not melt the chocolate.
Frozen food specialists like Headland Food from Great Britain or Frosta from Germany also use OCS checkweighing technology. The ingredients for vegetable couscous, for example, are filled and packed into bags that are laid individually onto the conveyor and equalised using roller or vibrating conveyors before being passed onto the checkweigher. These scales are made completely of stainless steel ensuring the manufacturer’s hygiene and purity requirements are met. All items of the correct weight are then passed through the X-ray machine. This device checks whether the contents of the bag is free of pieces of shell or small stones.

Reliable Protection against Foreign Bodies

Incorporating a metal detector into the production line is therefore possible and also makes sense in terms of HACCP. A metal detector detects the minutest residue of metal such as iron, stainless steel, aluminium, copper, brass etc. Sartorius, for instance, combines the metal detector with its checkweigher. The electronics for the metal detector are incorporated into the checkweighing technology. Whether it is drinks cans, folding cartons, sealed bags, plastic bottles, Tetrapacks or anything else – any type of container can and must be checked. Contamination of products is a highly sensitive issue – especially in the food and pharmaceuticals sector. Here X-ray inspection systems ensure the necessary safety measures are met and provide quality assurance in production. This means packaged and non-packaged goods can be checked for various different contaminants like glass, metal, stone, bone or other particles in line and contaminated products can be ejected where required.

No Chance for Impact

Depending on production speed and the impact of external interferences, the demands made of checkweighers are considerable. Measurements must not be distorted, be it by the wind, trams travelling past the building or other impacts and vibrations. Checkweigher specialists today look to so-called “Active Vibration Compensation” (AVC): weigh cells featuring this active interference compensation boast additional measuring technology that measures any existent vibrations separately. Several sensors recognise translational and also rotational impact. These interferences are then subtracted from the actual weight signal – with largely interference-free weight results. Weight measurement and the issuing of results is possible in just a few milliseconds – which means, unlike with conventional filter techniques, no time is lost here.

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