Mettler-Toledo Washdown Series Cut Down Cleaning Downtime

Mettler-Toledo Product Inspection has launched a new Washdown checkweighing series and washdown checkweighing metal detection combination series into the Asia Pacific market.

The new product inspection series is particularly designed for manufacturers of packaged food in stringent production environments, including dairy, fish, seafood and meat products. These companies need advanced precision weighing and contaminant detection solutions that lead to applications that have haesh cleaning processes. This includes those that use caustic cleaning agents to lessen bacterial contamination risks, without compromising weighing accuracy and/or metal detection frequency.

The hygienic design of the new series showcases sloped surfaces to discourage liquid and debris collection, reducing bacterial contamination risks. Moreover, conveyor belts can be removed quickly and rationally for efficient cleaning. The product inspection series also features an open frame design with only 4 feet on the floor, which offers easy access for washdown purposes. This aids to alleviate the amount of operational downtime to efficaciously finish the rigorous cleaning regimes.

Ingress protection remains a core design factor of Mettler-Toledo equipments: the systems are IP69 rated and resistant to most caustic detergents and disinfectants in accordance with the Ecolab Material Compatibility Test. This includes both systems’ touchscreens, which do not need to be removed or covered during cleaning processes, leading to decreased downtime for regular cleaning processes.

The amount of production downtime due to cleaning is reduced through simple dismantling and reassembly of components like the metal detector conveyor and the product collection bin, adopting the poka yoke mistake proofing, principles of tool-less maintenance. A self-adjusting elastic belt eradicates the requirement for tensioning, and makes sure that the belt is correctly aligned in the center of the conveyor. Customers can select from a range of choices for dealing with rejected products, including a tunnel for under- and over-weight products, a swing gate, air jet or pusher mechanisms.

Further time is conserved through storing job parameters in the HMI that can be quickly recalled for automatic job set up on both the checkweigher and metal detection system. Up to 250 recipes can be stored in the HMI and surplus memory for more recipes can easily be provided when needed.

Frank Borrmann, market manager, Mettler-Toledo Product Inspection stated- “Our checkweighing and combination product inspection systems bring something new to the market. These are highly automated, high performance machines, utilising Mettler-Toledo’s well-known precision technology – among the most advanced in these fields today – packed into a compact, open frame unit that is proven to be able to work in the harshest of washdown environments with no loss of quality. Also, the smart design of our systems, means that manufacturers reduce the amount of downtime needed for cleaning. By combining checkweighing and metal detection in a single machine, food manufacturers can also save space in their factories, and benefit from service and support from a single supplier.”

While maintaining the utmost safety and hygienic standards, the new checkweighers from the house of Mettler-Toledo are also established with well-known precision technology and dependable design. As with other series, the washdown checkweighers stick to global weighing regulations and the Measuring Instruments Directive (MID). The series is also in line with regulations governing conveyor materials anticipated to come into contact with food, including Regulation (EC) 1935/2004 and Regulation (EU) 10/2011, which backs the customer in their need to meet US Food & Drug Administration (FDA) standards.

The company started developing combination product inspection systems in response to customer issues such as the difficulty of fitting all the inspection technologies they need into limited factory floorspace. The cornerstone of these product innovations is the modular C-Series range of checkweighers, which allow great flexibility when integrating other product inspection technologies. As well as metal detection, combination systems can also encompass x-ray and vision inspection technology.

The integration covers not only hardware but also software. The CM33 Washdown and CM35 Washdown, as with other combination systems, consist of two HMIs that run in parallel – one for the checkweigher, one for the metal detector – communicating with each other, and providing the combination systems built-in redundancy. If one HMI fails, the other takes over on its own, avoiding unrequired downtime, and all Critical Control Points carry on functioning.