Ishida solutions have the packing line covered

19/09/2016

Two brand new X-ray inspection systems, the world’s smallest multihead weigher and a complete snack food packing system are just some of the highlights of the Ishida Europe stand at this year’s Gulfood Manufacturing, which underline the company’s capabilities as a complete packing line solutions provider for a wide variety of applications.

Also on show on stand A3-18 will be Ishida’s innovative Flexgrader for batching and grading, its entry-level tray sealer and the company’s pioneering Fresh Food Weigher, specifically designed to handle sticky or fragile products with maximum efficiency.

Ishida’s newly-launched IX series X-ray range raises the bar in performance and usability, offering customers easy maintenance and stress-free operation, and a robust fail safe system that prevents a contaminated product reaching the consumer in the event of a power outage or breakdown, thereby minimising the potential for costly recalls.

The Ishida IX-GN-4044 is ideal for manufacturers looking for the highest level of certainty and the best possible performance for many different products. Able to detect pieces of stainless steel as small as 0.3mm in diameter, plus aluminium, glass, stones, rubber, dense plastic and shell at high speeds, it is suitable for a wide variety of packed and unpacked products and includes a built-in air conditioning unit.

The GN-4044 uses Ishida’s patented Genetic Algorithm (GA) image processing to deliver superior inspection capabilities, with many standard GA settings already stored in the machine’s memory.

The second model on show focusses on bone detection in meat. The IX-G2 uses rays of two different energies to produce two images. These images are then compared, which helps to eliminate the background effect caused by the product itself and improves the detection of lower density foreign bodies such as fan bones in chicken, bone fragments in meat, or glass and stones in added value meat products.

The Ishida Micro multihead weigher has been designed to handle high-value, ultra-low target weight applications (down to half a gram target weight) with accuracy and efficiency levels close to 100% at a top speed of 120wpm. This makes the Micro ideal for products such as saffron or other spices and herbs, tea, soup ingredients, nuts and dehydrated vegetables. A small footprint of just 650 x 650mm, and maximum height of only 970mm, means the weigher can fit into any factory, saving valuable floor space.

Ishida’s iTPS™ (Integrated Total Packaging System) is the world’s only complete snack food packing system with all weighing and bagmaking elements from one supplier. The company’s advanced software supports the integrated operation of a 14-head Ishida RV multihead weigher and Atlas 204 bagmaker which can pack potato chips at up to 150 and extruded snacks at up to 220 packs per minute.

Dedicated software and a servo-controlled sealing operation, with accurate jaw temperature and jaw pressure, help achieve close to zero giveaway and greater than 99% efficiency. In addition, a ceramic hot knife with enhanced, hard-wearing jaws delivers superb sealing properties, achieving the highest quality pack presentation.

The compact, space-saving design incorporates a user-friendly single touch screen for easy operation and the system on show also includes Ishida’s advanced TSC-RS in-line seal tester with optional auto air-fill (AAF) feedback to automatically monitor and adjust the pack inflation level on the bagmaker.

The Ishida Flexgrader uses Ishida’s proven high performance weighing system to provide a high speed operation with excellent accuracy that is able to grade product to a variety of different specifications. Grading can be carried out to specified weights, minimum weight or number per pack. It can also deliver target batching with tolerances and priorities.

The entry-level semi-automatic QX-300-Flex tray sealer is ideal for low volume production runs, such as niche markets or for new product development, using the right balance of sealing pressure and temperature to ensure excellent pack appearance and seal integrity. Sealing tools are available for outside cut, MAP, skinpack and shrink film applications.

Ishida’s FFW (Fresh Food Weigher) provides the ideal solution for the effective handling and weighing of sticky products such as meat, poultry, fish and fresh and dried fruit, as well as coated fragile products. The machine cuts giveaway to less than 1% of pack weight and reduces labour costs by typically three operators per shift. With speeds of up to 60wpm for the 12 head model, typical payback can be under a year.