Three Ishida Flex Graders, supported by the company's recently-launched Sentinel advanced remote monitoring system, are helping to deliver improved accuracy and enhanced efficiencies at a leading Dutch poultry processor.
Van Miert slaughters and cuts up birds for onward supply for further processing. Two Flex Graders at the company’s factory in Breukelen and one at its Hunsel facility are weighing and grading breast caps into 14.5 kg crates, handling up to 135 products every minute.
The breast caps are packed in various weight ranges, from any weight below 300g up to 850g to 999g. The excellent accuracy of the Ishida Flex Graders ensures that products are consistently graded and sorted into the appropriate category. This enables Van Miert to maximise yields and the value of each production run. Double weights (which can occur if two breast caps arrive on the weigh belt at the same time) have also been minimised and the Flex Graders are operating at around 99.3% efficiency.
A further benefit for Van Miert is the more compact dimensions of the Flex Grader which have provided valuable space savings in both factories. In addition, the reliability of the Flex Graders is another vital factor for an in-line system, where any unplanned stoppages can have serious consequences.
“We are very pleased with the performance of the Flex Graders,” confirms Van Miert’s Engineering Manager Arno Streng. “They are easy to set-up and adjust during production, and this has freed up operators’ time, allowing us to carry out further product quality checks.”
The Flex Graders are in operation for nine hours per day, five days a week. They are currently running at around 70% of their top speed, offering opportunities for further increases to throughput if required.
As part of its stringent hygiene standards, Van Miert carries out a thorough five hour clean of the entire cut up area at the end of each shift. The easy-to-clean design of the Flex Grader supports this with a rugged, open frame construction and no need for parts to be dismantled.
Ishida Sentinel provides valuable remote monitoring of the line to deliver detailed reports of production numbers and overall weights, along with information on any activity during the shift such as adjustments or changes to weight requirements made by operators. This allows Van Miert to instantly assess overall line performance and make any necessary enhancements to maintain maximum efficiency.
"The Ishida Flex Graders have helped to improve our operation thanks to their improved accuracy, compact dimensions and ease of use, compared to the system we used previously," concludes Arno Streng.
"Equally important, the adoption of Ishida Sentinel has ensured that we have up-to-date information and machine statistics immediately available, and this allows us to keep the line performing at the highest level and in this way maximise the returns from each production run."
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