Fast, hygienic dried fruit weighing

WHEN Ma?tre Prunille upgraded its flagship factory, the French company incorporated a modern packing hall for which Ishida Europe has been a valuable automation partner. Both companies worked together from the earliest design phase to ensure that its stringent hygiene standards are maintained across a huge variety of different packs. Ma?tre Prunille handles various soft fruits which are packed in Stabilo or Quatro seal bags for both home and export markets.

The packing hall at its Casseneuil site near Villeneuve-sur-Lot, features five separate lines, each including a sorting area, an Ishida multiheadweigher and a vertical bagmaker. These are complemented by end-of-line equipment, including Ishida checkweighers with built-in metal detectors supported by IDCS software also from Ishida, all enable the company to monitor production line data to help increase line efficiency. An Ishida IX-GA 65100 X-ray inspection system stands guard over the final product and links into Ma?tre Prunille’s data systems to ensure traceability.

A key requirement for Ma?tre Prunille was the ability to make the frequent production changes demanded by the export side, now taking 30% of output, with its many different products, pack sizes and labels. Hygiene is also an important issue so the amount of time taken to clean equipment thoroughly is crucial to a fast product changeover, and therefore to efficiently fulfilling a wide range of different orders. The company takes the issue so seriously that it has its own tests for equipment cleanability and it was largely on the basis of their performance in this respect that Ishida multiheadweighers won out during the initial tendering process.

Each Ishida weigher has 14-heads with 3-litre hoppers. The main body, with its rounded construction, is simple to hose down and offers no ‘traps’ for spores or other contaminants to linger in. All contact parts, including feeder troughs and hoppers, can be lifted off the machine without the need for any tools and hung on a special Ishida “wash wall” nearby, where a whole set can be cleaned by spraying in five minutes.

 For volume production runs (which can last up to 18 hours) the legendary reliability of Ishida’s equipment comes to the fore. And altering such parameters as pack format or fruit grade takes just seconds using the presets programmed into the machines. However, for those crucial points, for example, where cross-contamination could be an issue, changeovers with thorough cleaning can be accomplished in less than 15 minutes.

Ishida is familiar with Ma?tre Prunille, which has two fresh food weighers to handle sticky dried fruit. However, this latest project is an example of an even closer partnership in which Ishida has gone far beyond the role of a manufacturer and contributed packing expertise and ideas on matters such as overall concept, hall layout and in-feed and elevator design. Ishida has worked closely on this project with its client’s technical management.

Frédéric Crispel, in charge of industrial development at Ma?tre Prunille, foresees a decade or more of service from the packing lines. He says the new hall is “a tool for the 21st century”, which is driven by the market.