Ishida multiweigher: Built for high speeds

MAJOR Russian confectionery, bakery, and snacks manufacturer KDV Group combines quality production practices and innovative equipment to boost its leading position in the market.

The company’s confectionery line includes waffles, cookies, marshmallow soufflé, gingerbread, caramel and chocolate candy, marmalade, and chocolate. The snacks line comprises potato crisps, croutons, pellet chips, dried fish, seafood, sunflower and pumpkin seeds, and packed nuts.

In addition to product quality, KDV’s snacks are widely popular because of their affordable prices. The secret lies in the use of homegrown or locally sourced ingredients. For its potato-based products, KDV grows its own potatoes next to its main factory in Yashkino.  In frying the potatoes, the company uses oil from sunflower seeds sourced from the Altay region and supplied by another KDV company, KDV Agro.

When it comes to processing and packaging equipment, the company relies on Heat and Control and Ishida. KDV and Ishida have been working together since the early 2000s. Their partnership started when KDV acquired a snack factory in the city of Vladimir. The facility already had Ishida equipment installed for packing bread croutons and potato chips. KDV decided to continue using the machines as these have been proven in accuracy and reliability.

In expanding its production line for potato crisps, KDV invested in Ishida packaging equipment that works with Heat and Control processing equipment

Fast forward to 2008, KDV needed to increase potato crisp production to match growing demand. The initial plan was to produce an additional one ton per hour, but it became clear during the development of the project that the hourly requirement was two tons per hour. With the company’s existing facilities unable to handle the increase in production requirement, KDV built a new processing department near its confectionery factory in Yashkino, a development that has allowed the manufacturer to control the full cycle of production from growing to processing and shipping.

The new potato chips packing line was specially designed in conjunction with Heat and Control processing equipment. The fully integrated line incorporates Ishida bagmakers machines, which deliver maximum efficiency and full capacity.

KDV decided during installation that it needed to pack a wider range of target weights than had initially been specified when the machines were ordered. Ishida engineers addressed this need by introducing special forming tubes for different types of bags, a clear demonstration of the Ishida bagmakers’ flexibility and adaptability. The setup continues to enable KDV to introduce new bag sizes or product varieties without major additional investment.

Twin iTPS (integrated Total Packaging Systems) from Ishida boasts rotary jaw performance of up to 120 bags per minute

The 16-head Ishida multihead weigher, which is integrated with the company’s Atlas ECO snack food bagmaker and included in the Ishida packing line, can achieve high speeds even for difficult products such as potato crisps. The machine operates in twin mode and has two sets of eight heads that weigh the snack products simultaneously at speeds of up to 95 bags per minute per side.

The Ishida Atlas bagmaker incorporates a single rotary jaw motion and superior control technology, which reduces product waste, film loss, and film change downtime.  A unique auto film splicing feature reduces product changeover times by up to 10%.

The Atlas bagmaker can control product charge by reliably stripping any remaining product from the seal area and preventing product from being blown upward. The machine’s innovative sealing unit creates tight horizontal and back seals of the bag without wrinkles even during high-speed packing. It adopts a user-friendly and easy-to-maintain design that enables easy setup and operation.

The Ishida packing line provides a whole efficiency of about 98%. Its Remote Control Unit (RCU) functionality allows easy setting of pressure, temperature, and sealing time to match the production speed and film characteristics toward creating optimum seals for any film.

The Remote Control Unit (RCU) functionality sets pressure, temperature, and sealing time to match the production speed and film characteristics

The Atlas bagmaker can control product charge by reliably stripping any remaining product from the seal area and preventing product from being blown upward. The machine’s innovative sealing unit creates tight horizontal and back seals of the bag without wrinkles even during high-speed packing. It adopts a user-friendly and easy-to-maintain design that enables easy setup and operation.

KDV’s four Ishida bagmakers handle a variety of leading brands, including Crispy Potato, Pro Chips, and Fun Chips in pack sizes ranging from 40g to 160g. The combined packing output of the four lines reaches 20 tons of product in every shift, with giveaway never any more than 2% of target. On a 65g bag, for example, deviations range from just 0.5g under to 0.7g over. The factory currently operates 10 hour shifts five days per week. It runs for 24 hours during high season.

KDV currently has 11 factories churning out more than 350 types of confectionery products. It owns 15 trade brands, including major Russian names Kirieshki, Babkiny semechki, and Yashkino.

The company’s success story started 20 years ago with the acquisition of the Yashkino food factory in the Kemerovo region. It kicked off production of a range of weighed confectionery products such as waffles, cookies, and gingerbread under the Yashkino brand after upgrading the production site and refurbishing the manufacturing facilities. Consistent strong demand for the Yashkino confectionery paved the way for the company to gain wide recognition in many parts of Russia. In addition to expanding its geographic markets, the company started establishing new production facilities in various parts of the country, bringing KDV products closer to the mass consumer.

Since operation of the Ishida packing lines began in 2012, KDV has not reported any breakdowns.

Efficiency is likewise guaranteed as downtime remains low. With their ease of operation and cleaning, the bagmakers require a product changeover time of no more than 15 minutes. Because of their twin design, the weighers can continue operating with its one side while the film is being changed on the other side. This ensures production is uninterrupted and throughput is maximized.

Vladimir Grankin, KDV Group’s technical director lauds the performance of the equipment. “Undoubtedly the major benefits of the Ishida bagmakers for us are their excellent reliability and high productivity that allow to us to respond to market demand for our products. In terms of technical support during the installation and operator training, the level of service is excellent. The bagmakers are easy to operate and maintain and this is another key advantage for us,” Mr Grankin said.

The technical director further stated, “Ishida produces equipment that always satisfies the technical requirements of our packaging. The ability to fully automate the weighing and bagging process has enabled us to further enhance the quality of our products. Indeed, due to the success of our relationship, we develop new projects only with Ishida.”

As if to confirm their strengthening partnership, KDV has started talks with Ishida regarding several new developments for both snacks and confectionery.