Multihead weigher enables manufacturer to introduce tuna pasties

A multihead weigher from Ishida Europe has enabled Spanish manufacturer Congalsa to introduce tuna pasties to the market.

When Congalsa, a manufacturer of high-quality, pre-cooked, frozen seafood dishes, decided to enter the commercial market in tuna pasties with an authentic, home-made taste, it involved adopting a different packing concept: using the speed, hygiene and labour-saving potential of multihead weighing to bag the pasties before boxing.

A Gentle Slope Ishida model was the solution to overcome the fragility problem of multihead weighing and the high breakage rate taking place largely in the weigher or at the weigher/bagmaker interface, where the damage could only be evaluated by inspecting already sealed bags and removing broken pasties by hand.

The 14-head weigher is configured so that radial feeder angles are shallower than usual. Drop distances between feeders and pool hoppers and between pool hoppers and weigh hoppers are kept to a minimum. A ring shutter halves the distance that the product must fall from weigh hoppers to bagmaker. The weigher also features recent Ishida technological advantages such as the ability to make many more combination calculations per second (which enhances speed and accuracy) and a self-tuning vibratory system.

The many damage-reducing features of the Ishida weigher and the Congalsa production team’s work in integrating it into the line have enabled high packaging speeds to be achieved.