When herbal confectionery manufacturer Ricola of Laufen in Switzerland expanded its activities it upgraded to a line that would reduce the level of product chipping and breakage.
Each herb lozenge is cut from a warm filament, leaving two ridged surfaces which, on cooling, present many brittle facets that can easily be damaged by collision with other lozenges or metal surfaces.
On the new line, product arrives via a conveyor with a suction system that removes dust and debris. It then runs via an elevator to the multihead weigher's top.
The 12-head Ishida weigher is designed with short drop distances, while the discharge chute is divided into sections to minimise product swirling and collisions.
The weighed product passes via timing hoppers and chutes to a filling station, where the tins arrive on a carousel to be filled two at a time. They then move on for lidding and overprinting with batch data.
Ricola says throughput has increased by 20% across all packing formats, product giveaway is very low and there has been a sharp decrease in breakage debris and more 'perfect' lozenges per tin than ever before.
Contact: Ishida Europe