World meat industry news

The move from manual weighing to an automated solution from Ishida Europe has enabled one of Russia’s largest producers of chicken products to greatly improve throughput, accuracy and overall product quality for its ranges of BBQ marinated chicken and boneless chicken pieces.

The 12-head Ishida Fresh Food Weigher (FFW) at Bogorodsky Delicatessen factory in the Schelkovsky District (Moscow Region) is weighing boneless chicken drumsticks, thighs and fillets for packing into both bags and plastic pots, handling up to two tons of product every hour with minimal giveaway.

The FFW has been specifically designed for these types of wet and sticky products. The chicken pieces are delivered by conveyor to the top of the weigher, where an operator distributes them via belt feeders to the 12 weigh hoppers, ensuring an even distribution that increases both the speed and efficiency of the weighing process. The Ishida Fresh Food Weigher then selects the combination of weights that comes closest to the required target weight and despatches these into the pack.

Special scrapers on the plastic hoppers minimise product sticking to the contact surfaces during the transfer.

Target weights can vary from as little as 100g up to 2kg, with the most common pack sizes between 500g and 1.5kg. Speeds are dependent on the required pack weight but can reach 40 packs per minute for a 1kg bag, with higher speeds limited only by the infeed conveyor.

Bogorodsky Delicatessen reports that the FFW delivers high levels of accuracy.

On a typical 500g pack, deviation is within 10g of the target weight which the company says is a great result for such a sticky product. Equally important, the Ishida weigher has reduced the manual handling of the product to a minimum which has helped to increase speed and enhance product quality.

With the wide variety of product types, pack sizes and formats, another benefit of the FFW is the ease of product changeovers, with all the different settings stored in the weigher’s Remote Control Unit, for fast and simple selection. The hygienic weigher design, with quick tool-free removal of all contact parts, ensures easy cleaning and maintenance, both for regular washdowns during production and for a comprehensive clean-down at the end of every shift.

The weigher is usually in operation for six to eight hours per day but for the marinated BBQ products this can rise to up to 17 hours during the peak summer season. Bogorodsky Delicatessen says that the FFW is very reliable, with no breakdowns or spare parts required since it was first installed in 2017. The compact design of the weigher also takes up minimal space in the factory.

“We have been very impressed with the high performance of the Ishida FFW, its speed and accuracy and the quality products it helps us to produce as a result,” comments Denis Kuleshov, Sales Manager of Bogorodsky Delicatessen.

“Compared to our previous manual operation, we are now able to improve speed and output significantly and this has helped to support our strategy of further expanding our range, with both new products and new pack formats.”

As a result, the company expects the weigher to have paid for itself within three years.

Established in 2006, Bogorodsky Delicatessen employs over 500 people and has more than 15,000 square metres of storage and production facilities, utilising unique technologies for the manufacture and packing of semi-finished convenience chicken and meat products. The company not only produces goods under its own brands, but also provides outsourcing services for cutting and packing.

Bogorodsky Delicatessen mission is to provide consumers with environmentally friendly products of the highest quality. Modern technologies are employed at all stages of the production process, with deep shock freezing to ensure freshness and preserve the beneficial nutritional properties of products, and no chlorine-containing substances used for the cooling of semi-finished products.

The company currently handles over 150 tons of finished products every day for more than 250 different product lines. Its main brands include Domosedka, Bogorodsky Delicatessen, Kryaka and Bogorodsky Farmer. 