Ounces of savings, pounds of profit

“The checkweigher market has been dominated by domestically made equipment,” says Gary Wilson, president of Loma International (www.loma.com), based in Carol Stream, Ill. “Historically, requirements in the U.S. market have tended toward hearty, robust, rugged equipment capable of running at relatively fast speeds for three shifts a day. The driving force in the Asian market, on the other hand, has been accuracy. They don’t run their equipment as fast in Asia, but customers there have demanded greater accuracy.”

An expanding mandate to squeeze greater profit from operations has put a higher premium on accuracy in the North American market in recent years. Today, processors simply can’t afford overfill.

“The North American market is changing now,” says Wilson. “Accuracy is becoming more important. Production needs to be more efficient. Giveaway is an issue because profit margins are an issue.”

“It is common for checkweighers to run at 200-300 packs per minute in the United States and even Europe,” agrees San Sin, who heads sales and marketing for Singapore-based Virtual Measurements. “In Asia, lines tend to run at slower speeds.”

His company has established a North American base in Santa Rosa, Calif. It views the American food industry’s growing demand for greater accuracy as an opportunity to serve. He points to high quality strain gauge load cells and the high processing speeds of the CPU for his equipment’s ability to achieve accurate weight readings at high speeds.

“The tolerances are tighter today,” says Kyle Thomas, marketing manager for Hi-Speed Checkweigher Co., Ithaca, N.Y. (www.hispeedcheckweigher.com). “Not only are companies concerned with compliance with net contents laws and giving the customers what they are paying for. They are also making sure they are not giving away too much.

“The more sensitive we can make our devices, the more we can diminish shrinkage, material loss,” he continues. “It’s a matter of increasing productivity. Checkweighers enable you not only to be a good steward of the consumer, but also to be a good steward of your own business by being profitable.”

The latest introduction to Hi-Speed’s line is Starweigh, a device that delivers the precision performance of a static scale – down to 5 mg -- in a high-speed, in-motion instrument, according to Thomas. Initially used in the pharmaceutical industry, food processor demands for increased accuracy have opened Starweigh to food application.

“It’s like getting laboratory balance into an in-motion packaging line,” says Thomas.

“Everybody wants a faster, better, more accurate checkweigher – and at lower cost,” says Ha Dinh, vice president of engineering for the Alpha checkweigher division of All-Fill Inc., Exton, Pa. (www.all-fill.com). “Your customers also want versatility, easy changeover…machines that are easy to clean and maintain. We try to come up with equipment that meets all these needs.”

An asset management tool

The motivation behind many current sales of checkweighers is their value as asset management and production tools. They help to manage throughput, the amount of saleable product that comes off the production line.

“We are challenged to make sure our checkweighers can keep up with cartoners and other devices in the packaging line or to run them at faster speeds,” says Thomas. “In some cases, it’s trying to get from two lines the production you normally get out of three.”

Managing assets encompasses maintenance and documentation. Cleanability and high washdown resistance are mandatory in the food manufacturing environment since material buildup of any kind can thwart accuracy.

Maintaining a history of an entire product run is vital as well. “Traceability is important in food and pharmaceuticals,” continues Thomas. “In this sense, a checkweigher is an important tool. It gives you an electronic signature on each product.” Hi-Speed’s “S” line, coupled with the available statistical program, supplies security and “checkability,” he says.

“More customers are using checkweighers not only as weighing devices but to make their statistical processes better,” says Thomas.

All-Fill’s Trend Tracker software also has important feedback and control features. “If trending is overweight, the filler will adjust. The same if a package is overweight,” says Dinh. “You can automatically adjust your filler or your conveyor speed, depending on the trend of the production line. And you have a statistical package to see the standard deviation, average fills, the number of good and bad packages that have gone through, along with bar graphs. Your checkweigher can be a quality control instrument that reveals not only how well your filler is working but how well the line is running as well.”