FDBusiness.com

Dried and soft fruit firm Maître Prunille has installed Ishida weighing equipment at its flagship factory in France

The company has bought Ishida checkweighers with built-in metal detectors and an Ishida IX-GA 65100 x-ray inspection system.

The firm has recently modernised its flagship plant near Villeneuve-sur-Lot. Its packing hall, features five separate lines, each including a sorting area, an Ishida multihead weigher and a vertical bagmaker.

When acquiring the Ishida kit, Maître Prunille said that it wanted to invest in kit that had the ability to make the frequent production changes demanded by the export side, now taking 30% of output, with its many different products, pack sizes and labels.

Each Ishida Weigher has 14-heads, with 3-litre hoppers. The main body, with its rounded construction, is simple to hose down and offers no ‘traps’ for spores or other contaminants to linger in, according to Ishida.

All contact parts, including feeder troughs and hoppers, can be lifted off the machine without the need for any tools and hung on a special Ishida “wash wall” nearby, where a whole set can be cleaned by spraying in five minutes.

Frédéric Crispel, in charge of industrial development at Maître Prunille,  said that he foresees a decade or more of service from the packing lines.  He describes the new hall as “a tool for the 21st Century”, which is driven by the market, specifically by the current and forecast needs of the company’s many customers, who he sees as “…helping us to raise our game, particularly our Anglo-Saxon customers who demand BRC or IFS certification”.