Aja have delivered many ‘profit saving’ weigh packing systems to UK tomato packers for the major UK Supermarkets. Aja weighing solutions is now the preferred choice for many of the major pre pack produce & veg Packhouses in the UK.
Packing half vine tomatoes to Average or Fixed weight with maximum efficiency and accuracy but with minimum Give Away & Waste is particularly challenging due to the difficulty of matching and combining half vines to tight specifications. Flexibility and portability of any solution is also critical in the modern packhorse.
Constant re-adjustment of the vines or snipping to get the best weight along with over packing whether to Average or Nett Minimum Weight is a common problem, directly impacting on overall profitability.
For dedicated half vine tomato packing operations to minimise labour and maximise speed the Aja TDW Selector Scale takes away the guessing and juggling of vines to achieve best weight and minimum give away and waste while significantly adding a high level of productivity.
Based on the standard multihead combination weigher concept the TDW Selector scale has 12 weigh pans. As one operator feeds the pans with single vines the Selector Scale calculates the best combination of vines closest to the target weight by activated LED’s telling the second operator which ones make the weight and are to be removed from the pans to make the pack. Once removed the process is repeated. As soon a combination is found the vines can be removed. Not all pans have to be filled to calculate the best pack. The calculation is virtually instant and good operators can pack from between 10 to 14 packs per minute with Give Away typically as low as 0.1% when packing to Average Weight to T1.
In a typical packhouse there may be 4, 6 or more TDW’s in use which can be networked with Aja’s ALTOS wi fi software to give management complete control of the packing operation with real time data on operator speed and give away. This data can be displayed on a large KPI screen for all to see.
For more information
Aja
food industry weighing automation & optimisation
T: + 44 (0) 20 8892 8900