An important part of any production line—especially in the food packaging industry—is weighing the product before packaging it. Whether you’re packaging produce, poultry, frozen foods, or other hard-to-handle products, weighing equipment that is fast, accurate, reliable, and space-saving is key.
Continue reading How Does a Multi-Head Combination Weigher Work? 
If you’re in the business of packaging goods, chances are you have a complex line of machinery for getting your product into the appropriate packages and shipped off to your customers. If you manually weigh out each package, or you have to put multiple ingredients into the same package, a combination weigher might be a great help for you and your business. They have the ability to not only streamline the packaging process, but also make it more fast and efficient, thanks to having the functionality to weigh multiple ingredients and ensure consistency in each package.
Since vertical form fill sealing machines work by bagging product from a hopper, it makes sense that they’d pair perfectly with used checkweighers—weigh stations that instantly read how much product is in a package to ensure consistency. The combination of the two machines can save your company a significant amount of time and may allow for reallocation of work for employees who manually fill and weigh packages. It may also lead to increased output for your business.
If you package your goods into bags that need to weigh the same amount, combiweighers are a perfect solution for getting consistent results every time. The hoppers can contain the product until it’s ready to be weighed out into packages, and once the packages are prepped, each head of the weigher weighs the proper amount before dispensing into a package. These machines are especially helpful for multiple-ingredient packages—for instance, a cereal that has two kinds of grain flakes, plus almonds and cranberries will need four heads to complete one package. Each head can be set up to weigh out a specific amount so that the more expensive ingredients aren’t overfilled. This can, in turn, save you money by way of ensuring you don’t use too much of the pricier ingredients before running out of the “filler” ingredients.
There are a number of manufacturers that specialize in combination weighers. Some of the more well-known brands include:
These are just a few of the brands that offer combination weighers. Some have been in business for several decades, and are dedicated to manufacturing some of the most reliable weighers on the marker.
If you’re unsure of whether a combination weigher will be worth the investment or are worried about going over your budget for equipment, it’s important to know that you have the option to purchase used machines. Buying used machinery is an easy way to save a significant amount of money without having to sacrifice quality. Many people think that used equipment means they’re inheriting equipment that was returned for defects, but the reality is that used equipment is often simply no longer needed by its original owner for one reason or another, and still have a lot of years of use left in them. Do your company a favor: add efficiency and save time and money by purchasing a used combination weigher.
If you decide to implement this equipment in your company, make sure you take the time to fully train your staff, so that all of your efforts toward efficiency aren’t lost because people don’t know how to operate the machinery. Once your employees know how to work with the new machines, you’ll be able to enjoy a more efficient process for packing, and you may even be able to take on more work because it takes less time to package and ship your goods.
When you’re packaging up product and shipping it out to your distributors and other clients, and your product is measured by weight, it’s essential to use combination scales that work accurately. Your product’s packages should all weigh the same. Any discrepancies can cause profit loss, as you’re essentially giving product away for free if your scales aren’t working correctly. If you’re experiencing problems with your current scales, consider purchasing your next combination scale used. Used combination scales can save as well as earn your business money in a couple of ways.
Of course, a lower sticker price is the most obvious way that refurbished packaging machinery can save you money. While you can purchase new packaging equipment, the truth of the matter is that refurbished machinery is just as efficient and reliable. The refurbishing process includes thoroughly inspecting and repairing a machine so that the difference between it and a new unit is negligible. In other words, you are not risking purchasing a machine that will break soon after you buy it, nor are you purchasing an inferior product. All you’re doing is spending less—what’s not to love about that? Every business is on a budget, and it never hurts to come in under budget, especially on big purchases such as replacing machinery.
One of the biggest problems when scales get older and wear out is that they don’t weigh things accurately anymore. While this may not be a problem with, say, the scale you have at home that you step on every now and then, it’s a big problem when your bottom line is affected by the mistakes. For instance, if a scale is even a half of an ounce off, that adds up quickly and over time, you’re giving away hundreds or thousands of pounds of your product for free. While a half ounce doesn’t sound like it would impact the amount of money your business can draw in too much, imagine that multiplied by the number of packages you ship out every year—the discrepancy in product sold versus product paid for will have a huge impact on your bottom line, which can obviously affect the rest of the workings of your company. Replace those old, worn out machines with refurbished combination scales that are much more accurate.
In the world of packaging, optimal efficiency is the number one goal for many companies. For that reason, it’s not surprising that there are solutions available that are continually helping these businesses churn out more product in less time. Combination weighers are one of those such machines. Companies like Yamato, Ishida, Combi, and Bilwinco all offer up their versions of the combination weigher, and with choices from those manufacturers and more, combination weighers are one of those most popular and most useful pieces of packaging equipment around. Why are they so popular and useful?
First and foremost, combination weighers give companies a solution for packaging small products quickly and easily. And because this type of machine weighs the product as it fills a package, the end product is uniform in weight, which saves time from having to manually make sure that each package contains the same amount of product. Further, these weighers can be used on a wide variety of products, and there are certain models that can be used with more fragile products that require a delicate hand when being packaged.
Perhaps more importantly, combination weighers are great for companies who package products that can either be combined for a mix or left singular for a one-note package. For example, things like a bag of assorted jelly beans can be quickly put together with a combination weigher since the fill spout can pull from all fill tubes to create an even mix. However, since those jelly beans are stored in separate fill tubes, a company can create custom blends or even just put one type of candy in each bag.
The reason combination weighers are such a popular packaging machine is because they’re useful and versatile. They offer companies an efficient, fast way to get their product from the factory into a package and on their way to a shelf.
