An Ishida multi-head weigher has been instrumental in helping Swedish food manufacturer Dafgård achieve gentle and accurate weighing of meatballs into bags at the high speeds required.
Gunnar Dafgård AB is Sweden’s largest family business in the food sector. Established in 1937, the company is run by Gunnar’s sons, Thomas and Ulf, and has a turnover of €190 million. The company supplies a range of products to consumers (through its Dafgård, Gorby’s and Billy’s brands, and private labels) and foodservice markets (including the contract to supply meatballs to Ikea).
Dafgård needed high-quality weighing equipment for a range of products on its meatball processing line at its factory in Källby. Christoffer Sundberg, the company’s assistant plant manager, said: “Our target speed is 100 bags per minute but it is vital that the integrity of the meatballs – which can break apart during handling – is maintained. Many of the suppliers we talked to could not guarantee this combination of speed and delicacy of handling.
“Only Ishida could provide a suitable solution for all product sizes. During tests, the machine was able to achieve speeds of up to 120 bags per minute, far outstripping the required capacity.”
The Ishida CCW-M-214 has been specifically designed to handle food products that require gentle and controlled handling. A low-angle, reinforced dispersion table with concealed fixings, semi-flat radial feeder troughs with waterfall end and safe edges, and double opening hoppers with cushioned, easy-down inserts ensure the product moves quickly through the weigher without the risk of product damage.
In addition, the gentle slope configuration of the discharge chutes, together with a set of metal guides that reduce the fall speed of the product and prevent the meatballs from colliding, allows a quick product transfer into the bagmaker.
The Ishida weigher is integrated with a VFFS bagmaker, creating a fast, accurate and efficient packing operation. Target weights range from 350g to 5kg for a variety of retail packs.
Mr Sundberg said Dafgård had been impressed with the performance of the weigher. He said: “Ishida trained a Dafgård engineer to service the multi-head weigher, but he reported that he has never needed to put his knowledge to the test.”
