A confectionery firm has been able to achieve maximum quality control in the packing of pastilles and powdered drinks into bags by installing Ishida’s IX-EA-2161 X-ray inspection system and a DACS-W-012 checkweigher.
Typical production anomalies and contaminants the Ishida X-ray system has to monitor include an over-large sugar crystal or a simple product lump in the powdered drinks, and the occasional small fragment of paper or plastic which could enter the pastilles or drinks via the sugar supply. Nevertheless, the ability of the IX-EA to pick up tiny amounts of metal, glass, stone and rubber adds an extra level of product safety.
With the line running at up to 90 bags per minute, older measures such as sieving of the powder and visual inspection of both products could not be relied on, leading the Swiss company Hunziker to choose X-ray inspection technology. The Ishida X-ray system was selected following extensive trials in which the machine was 100 per cent successful in identifying a number of deliberately contaminated packs, and this success rate has continued during operation in the factory.
Operation of the IX-EA is very quick and simple. Inspection settings are automatically optimised by simply passing product through the machine. The system uses the familiar Microsoft Windows platform, via a touchscreen monitor.
