Minebea Automatic Weigh Price Labeller: has improved labeling procedures, accuracy, efficiency, and safety for Cheese Manufacturer
Cheese maker Norseland says it has transformed its labelling procedures with its new equipment which is consistently delivering a more polished product.
The company was looking for new ways to automate parts of its manufacturing process and reduce the demands on its existing workforce. Minebea Intec says its WPL-A automatic weigh price labeller and its WPL-S static option offered the perfect solution for the labelling processes and has increased the efficiency and accuracy.
The labelling solutions from Minebea Intec not only fulfilled this objective, but also helped to increase workplace safety while preparing for future automation.
“The WPL-A has transformed the way we do labelling by automating the process,” explains Tony Helyar, continuous improvement & capital projects manager at the cheesemaker. “It means we’re getting a much more polished product every time without relying on manpower that we were struggling to source in our vicinity”
Norseland has over 30 Minebea Intec products in use within its manufacturing plant in Ilchester, Somerset, where it has a diverse and versatile offering. The company can provide cheese for every occasion from slices to large blocks and snacking portions. Its brands include Jarlsberg, Applewood and Mexicana.
Producing this diverse product range relies on a varied and flexible equipment base which has seen Minebea Intec supply the company since 2007.
The 19-inch touchscreen enables easy operation through comprehensible icon language: important production data, statistics, and currently created labels are displayed visually appealing on the screen.
The requirement for new labelling machinery was driven by the need to automate the process, increase the efficiency and accuracy and combat a shortage of available workforce near the plant. Minebea Intec was chosen as its preferred supplier for several reasons: the durability of Minebea Intec products, the hygienic standards of the products, the aftersales service and the ability to adapt products to the company’s exact requirements.
In response to these demands, the WPL-A was manufactured to accommodate the label sizes required by Norseland and the WPL-S was adapted to fit into its existing line.
The WPL-A convinces with high-speed printing of up to 125 labels per minute, made possible using advanced print compression technologies.
This new machinery is in addition to its existing 16 checkweighers; Synus and CoSynus used for end of line weight checks and metal detection. Norseland also has EWK portion weighers which control the size of the cheese portions and Flexus’ which are used to control the cutting of the smaller portions of cheese.
The company also has six Vistus metal detectors, two Combics scales used for sampling for legal records and 1 SPC Enterprise software package which provides real-time reporting on the factory processing.