SubscribeWholesale butcher Eugen Gruninger Großmetzgerei GmbH & Co. KG, has introduced a second Ishida multihead weigher at its plant in Freiburg/Breisgau, enabling it to expand its production capacity substantially while dispensing with expensive night working.
The company has installed a new 14-head from Ishida’s latest R-series which offers even greater speed and accuracy than before thanks to substantial changes to its central processing unit and software.
Since the arrival of its first Ishida weigher six years ago, Gruninger has expanded rapidly, which has required round the clock working and put increasing pressure on production and packing facilities.
The company processes 12 million kg of meat a year and manufactures a range of over 120 high quality products which it supplies to meat and delicatessen outlets in Germany, France and the Netherlands. Its leading product –Wurstsalat-, strips or slices of a fine-grained, cooked sausage (Fleischwurst) in a mustard vinaigrette, has won a gold award and despite the three shift operation, it had been increasingly difficult for the packing line to keep up with demand.
Multihead Weighers
With the new Ishida weigher, Gruninger has now been able to expand its manufacturing capability by introducing new production schedules. The new weigher operates from 5 am to 11 pm every day, and the existing weigher has reduced its period of operation by eight hours to the same schedule. Despite these reductions, total production of Wurstsalat has been boosted to 12.5 tonnes per day. In addition, the labour expenses associated with through-the-night working have been totally eliminated.
It was partly the non-stop performance of the company’s existing Ishida weigher that led General Manager Michael Gruninger and Production Manager Peter Egloff to consult Ishida when new equipment was required. The speed and accuracy of the R-Series 14-head weigher placed it well ahead of equivalent competitor ranges.
“With products that have to be produced in large quantities and with a consistent level of quality, it is important to have the latest equipment available“, says Herr Gruninger.
Packing speed is paramount because of the importance of freshness in this type of product. It also has a sticky consistency but despite this, the new weigher achieves over 30 weighments per minute, assisted by its highly advanced vibratory feed system. The salad spends only two minutes in contact with the ambient air between slicing and packing. “In fact, the weigher has an even higher potential. It is currently held back by the speed of the packing machine,” comments Herr Egloff.
The user-interface of the new Ishida is so simple to learn and easy to use that it takes just three operators to run both Wurstsalat packing lines. The Gruninger Wurstsalat range consists of six variants, each of which is packed in transparent trays (300, 400 and 1000g). Changeovers are very quickt: where pack size only is changed, they are even faster, thanks to the colour touchscreen.
Another advantage of choosing Ishida was the quick installation provided. As a sizeable international company, with large retailer and wholesale customers to service, Gruninger could not have afforded production downtime as the new machine came on line, particularly with a seasonal product like Wurstsalat. The impending bottleneck in production was identified and 3 month later the new machine was up and running.
“The Ishida is a perfect match for our needs and has given us a real competitive edge,” says Michael Gruninger. “We have become even more flexible as we can now react quickly to large orders, which gives us added confidence.”