SubscribeMulti-Fill Inc. of Salt Lake City, USA, represented in the UK and Ireland by F.Jahn & Co. Ltd., design and build a range of depositors, named MPF, for products which have previously proved very difficult to fill by machine.
The MPF system features a volumetric filling head, which is capable of depositing precise portions of products such as cooked rice, pasta and vegetables, into trays, cartons or pouches.
Generally, the more free-flowing the product the better and more accurate the filling performance but the MPF system has proved adept at handling cooked pastas such as noodles, spaghetti and tagliatelli as well as vegetable pieces such as broccoli and cauliflower florets, IQF carrots, beans and so on.
The Multi-Fill equipment is PLC controlled with an operator panel. The graphics screen communicates the machine operation information clearly, so training of operators is rapid. This system also allows the customer to add features in the future with only a software change. By using the graphics screen, the MPF can be operated in PRODUCTION mode, TEST mode or CLEAN mode. CLEAN mode allows for a quick wash-down of the filler between products, which saves time during product change over.
The MPF depositor is designed to be entirely mobile and can be switched easily between ready meal production lines, as the time required for changeover and clean-down is very short. The MPF can be positioned over simple tray conveyor lines as well as thermoforming equipment.
Kanes Foods in Evesham have recently installed an MPF depositor with a special 6-position product distribution system filling noodles into trays on a twin-lane thermoforming machine.
Multi-Fill and F.Jahn have jointly developed a new pilot plant facility just south of Manchester where an MPF depositor is permanently available to demonstrate to customers the machine's performance on their own products.