When one of Europe’s leading food producers discovered it was giving away too much produce, it needed a solution fast. In stepped Sparc Systems, installing seven of its high-end Cerberus combi checkweigher and metal detectors, slashing giveaway for the premium deli meat supplier almost instantly by 55 percent.
With no checkweighing mechanism in place, the processor of 150 tonnes of deli meats weekly knew that it’s overfilling strategy to ensure compliance with European weight legislation was having a detrimental impact on its bottom line. At a cost of over 250,000 Euros, the supplier acquired seven Sparc Cerberus machines for its Irish-based production facility.
Designed for high care food production environments, the accurate, fully integrated, combination metal detection, packaging inspection and checkweighing system inspects for potential metal contaminants, checks the label, and verifies the weight of each product. With a standard inspection speed of 200 packs per minute, it is, says Sparc’s national sales manager Charlie Graham, one of the fastest and precise combination inspection units on the market.
Featuring a single, clear, touch-screen panel, the Cerberus, like all of Sparc’s inspection systems, comprises an electric servo drive. This, explains Charlie, is far more efficient and seamless, as it provides constant feedback on all processing elements such as volume, weight and speed up and down the line, esnuring real-time production monitoring. It also enables processors to inspect packs faster increasing throughput and yield, as well as saving around £4,000 annually on energy consumption compared to the more widely used compressed air combi units.
Another unrivalled feature is the conveyor mechanism that automatically separates metal contaminant rejects from weight rejects and places them in accessible BRC-approved lockable bins.
Charlie highlights the ingenuity of this single dipping conveyor design and how it saves on waste: “Packs identified as being under or over weight automatically dip 50° on the conveyor, feeding rejected products into the waste reject bin. For a metal contaminant, the conveyor dips 100° separating packs into the metal reject bin. Product in the CCP metal contaminant bin is documented and destroyed according to company protocols, while product diverted into the weight bin can be reworked, saving on waste.”
On a daily basis, each Cerberus combi system is inspecting more than 40,000 premium deli meat packs. “For this one customer, reducing giveaway by a massive 55 percent is especially significant given that 80 percent of their production costs are in the meat,” reflects Charlie.
Delivering an uptime of nearly 100 percent, with speedy product changeovers and ease-of-cleaning, the customer stated: “Cerberus is the best machine we’ve ever bought, offering the best ROI we’ve ever seen.”
Built in Malvern, the Cerberus is one of Sparc’s flagship inspection systems, with more than 200 installed internationally to-date. Even with bespoke modifications, the Cerberus can be dispatched and installed in less than eight weeks. Software upgrades can be issued almost instantaneously by remote access, ensuring full compliance to new retailer Codes of Practice.
