Line for packing and weighing in trays: saving time, personnel and product

Cesena-based Bulltec has supplied Master Fruit of Licata, an established customer for several years now, with a new processing plant with a weighing system for packaging zucchini and peppers entirely in 4.0 ready stainless steel.

The plant was designed and developed by Bulltec to facilitate and optimize the processing of these products, specifically when they are packaged in guaranteed weight trays/baskets/net. This type of line is the subject of a patent filed by Bulltec in 2022.

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“The plant,” explains Bulltec’s Ruggero Ricci, “consists of a series of conveyor belts that feed the product onto a battery of weight belts, in this case 12 scales, which go to establish, through the application of Bulltec software, an optimal combination of 2/3 and 7/8 pieces. The minimum weight is thus guaranteed, for each package, limiting excesses.”

Overall, 9/10 operators are employed on this line: six manually place the product on the infeed belts, one loads the empty trays onto the belt, and three operators pack the product. The line capacity, verified during processing with the customer, is 35/40 beats per minute for peppers; 35 beats per minute for zucchini. The average excess weight over guaranteed weight varies from 3 to 5 percent maximum for each type of package.
The Master Fruit customer believes it has achieved its goal of making this particular guaranteed-weight processing more efficient.

With the previous system, the same quantities were processed, but with 14 operators engaged to pack and check each individual tray, statistically finding an average 10/12% overweight per package.

The customer states that today a pallet of product is processed in 30 minutes with 10 operators, while previously the same operation was completed in 40 minutes with 14 operators engaged. The customer also finds an average recovery of 7/8% on excess weight.

The end result obtained and verified by the customer by working with the new Bulltec line is a 25 to 30 percent productivity efficiency of each operator employed on this processing.

Master Fruit says, “I chose Bulltec with the objective of finding a solution that would allow me to optimize the processing of my vegetables in guaranteed weight packages in terms of productivity and reduction of product waste. I am satisfied once again, not only from the point of view of the performance achieved by the new plant, but also from the point of view of service and product quality: the promises were kept and the goal I had was fully achieved. I can therefore consider myself amply satisfied.”

The new Bulltec processing line ensures a high level of delicacy in product handling, this is because there are no drops between belt passes as they all work at the same height. In fact, Master Fruit claims to be able to process light variety zucchini, an extremely delicate variety, on this line.

The line can be customized according to what the customers’ needs are, Bulltec in fact guarantees to be able to process with this type of technology products such as eggplant, cherry tomatoes, grapes, artichokes, fennel and much more.