G+G Convenience, based in Garrel in the state of Lower Saxony, produces own-label chicken nuggets for various retail chains. A growing number of orders prompted the manufacturer to upgrade its packing technology and replace a line that had reached capacity.
The two new high-performance systems feature two Ishida CCW-RV multihead weighers that are capable of delivering up to 90 weighments per minute, depending on the product which can be frozen or chilled. For quality assurance purposes, G+G Convenience has also installed four Ishida DACS-G checkweighers, which check the target weight against a particular part of the process at two different production points on the lines.
The 14-head weighers are alternately fed from the processing lines at 30-second intervals. A dispersion table loadcell regulates the product feed to the radial feeders to ensure an even flow of nuggets. The feeders convey the product to the pool hoppers, which hold it for a short time to stabilise the product, before releasing it to the weigh hoppers directly underneath. A microprocessor then calculates in a fraction of a second the best combination of weigh hoppers that comes closest to the target weight, and the selected hoppers discharge the chicken nuggets via a timing hopper into the bagmaker below.
Each pack contains between 10 and 20 pieces with fill weights from 250g to 500g. The target weight calculation process takes into account the piece weight of a single nugget (19.5g) to ensure that the pre-set quantity is always met. In rare cases, a pack may contain one extra chicken nugget, but is never one short. If a pack is found to have the incorrect weight, a signal is sent to the bagmaker, which produces a double bag that is rejected.
