Intelligent weighing fills bill
Maintaining the right blend of wrap and sandwich fillings requires the optimum in line control. That's why Marco has installed its LineMaster yield control system at Greencore's convenience foods plant in the Netherlands.
Although there are high levels of automation at the plant, critical parts of the process rely on the manual dexterity of the operators.
The Marco LineMaster has an intelligent weighing system with scales connected to a central computer via a wireless link.
A traffic light system informs operators if the desired target weight has been achieved. The computer collects all production real-time data and checks it against the pre-set target data. If an operator regularly deviates from the target weight, the software fine tunes the weights to optimise output. This results in higher productivity, minimal giveaway and greater consistency in the composition of the product.
Greencore plant manager Peter van der Wielen says: "Despite the diversity in the composition of the products that Greencore produces, the LineMaster's high level of effectiveness remains unchanged. It's simply a matter of inserting the components for each product and setting the features.
"Thanks to the wireless connection, workstations can easily be moved or adjusted. That gives us the confidence that we have a system with which we can thrive in the future."
Marco
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