Trend Control for Checkweighers
Many customers find themselves in a global and competitive market. The ever-increasing cost pressure caused by globalisation is demanding more and more efficiency improvements in production. If filling, portioning or cutting processes are used in product manufacturing, these processes can often be optimised with the help of fully automatic trend controllers. With production throughput rates continuing to rise, even the slightest weight corrections per product, which are supposedly caused by this, lead to enormous savings.
While overfilling is characterized by unnecessary loss of material, the opposite is just as negative for production: Underfilling during production can result in expensive recall campaigns and thus cause lasting damage to the brand. In order to avoid this, many producers often accept unnecessary overfilling, which causes additional costs. With the Trend Control function, Minebea Intec ensures that the filling quantity is exactly right - and thanks to the increased efficiency, the return on investment (ROI) is achieved earlier.
Increase efficiency through the use of Trend Control
Trend Control is a function for almost all dynamic checkweighers in the portfolio of Minebea Intec. This feature allows the checkweigher to communicate with the filling machine and make adjustments during operation based on the actual product weight in order to compensate for fluctuations in the filling quantity. This increases the efficiency of the filling machine, prevents unnecessary overfilling and rejects and thus shortens the return on investment.
Filling precision guaranteed by smart feedback
The feedback function checks the precision of the filling machine based on previously defined parameters. The average weight of a defined quantity of packaging is compared with the target value to be achieved and recorded as a trend. Based on this measurement, the filling quantity is corrected upwards or downwards.
Trend Control advantages
- Identification of fluctuations in the filling quantity
- Prompt and automatic adjustment of the filling machine
- Reduction of overfilling and waste
- Reduce overfilling costs
- Quality assurance through ideal filling quantities
- Cost-optimized, more efficient production
- Exact compliance with legal requirements
- Interface to filling systems retrofittable
- Optimise processes and working hours
- Technical support throughout the life cycle
New optimization potentials for many industrial sectors
The trend control option focuses on all customers in almost all industries that use filling, portioning or cutting machines. A prerequisite for the use of a trend controller is that these machines can be controlled externally, i.e. have suitable inputs for control signals. The checkweigher option Trend Control contains software as well as physical outputs and has the task of controlling the machine upstream of a checkweigher via appropriate control signals so that the weight value defined as the target weight is reached as accurately as possible and kept constant. For this purpose, the weighing results are evaluated accordingly. The result of the evaluation is a control signal (manipulated variable) which is used to adjust the filling, portioning or cutting machine.
But not only the throughput of the production plays an important role here; the higher the raw material value, the faster investments in high-quality checkweighers equipped with Trend Control option pay off. A decisive prerequisite for the successful use of a tendency controller is that the measuring instrument (here checkweigher) delivers highly accurate actual values (weight values), shows as little (temperature) drift as possible and is zero point stable.
In addition, the use of software is recommended to ensure statistical process control: For this purpose, Minebea Intec offers an ideal option with SPC@Enterprise: The SPC@Enterprise software combines classic fill quantity control with dynamic process control for a variety of different systems and thus efficiently supports the quality management of your production.
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