Wilkin and Sons Ltd. has a long and celebrated history of producing premium quality foods, fruit and jams. Their exclusive "Little Scarlet" strawberries have been enjoyed for generations-and their 125th anniversary was marked by a visit from Her Majesty The Queen.
As the renowned Tiptree jam producer sought to expand their existing fresh-fruit pack-house capacity with an additional line, it came to METTLER TOLEDO to see if it could ensure easier weighing data capture for better quality control to reduce product giveaway and improve productivity. Local METTLER TOLEDO weighing experts Bernie Gately and Phil Tyler felt confident they could help. They quickly put themselves to the task of developing a workable solution that would deliver Wilkin and Sons' desired quality control improvements.
Solving the puzzle of performance tracking
First and foremost, Wilkin and Sons quality managers needed more visibility over packing facility performance. In particular, they sought reassurance that weight control was in compliance and met customer requirements. They wanted to gather this data and consolidate it to allow easier reporting and analysis. This would give them a better view to the operator's individual performance and provide the statistical data that would allow the company to maintain productivity and maximize operational efficiency.
Ultimately, Gately and Tyler suggested ICS449 colorWeight®-enabled scales. These easy-clean checkweigher scales (insert hyperlink www.mt.com/glo/en/home/products/Industrial_Weighing_Solutions/bench-scales/checkweigher.html) include an LCD screen that registers with an unmistakable backlight after settling. Red indicates balance contents are not yet in an acceptable range, while green shows that the weight is within tolerance and the operator may weigh a new container. This specialized feature is helping to speed up handling.
Wilkin and Sons' farm manager Andrey Ivanov has been pleased with the results. "The 'traffic light' system on the ICS scales has maintained and even improved our productivity," he says.
Centralized reporting, excellent service
The company's new scales were also equipped with METTLER TOLEDO UK's ScaleMonitor data-capture software and customer-specific SQL Server Reporting Services reports and dashboards. This enables easier central productivity review and better decision-making to maintain processing standards. It has allowed more precise ongoing monitoring of the weight of Wilkins and Sons' punnets.
"Easier data capture has allowed better overall quality control on all our outgoing products. We've had a very good experience, and excellent support and service from Bernie and Phil," concludes Ivanov.
Adapted from an article originally published in Automation.com on 10.06.2015 http://www.automation.com/library/british-fruit-grower-weighs-in-red-and-green.
