FDBusiness.com

The installation of a state-of-the-art IQ³ Metal Detector from Loma Systems, a leading supplier of metal detection, checkweighing and X-ray systems, has increased production efficiency at Anthony Rowcliffe and Son Ltd, one of the most established cheese and speciality chilled food suppliers in the UK.

Variable frequency plus automatic calibration made Loma’s next generation variable frequency IQ³ Metal Detector the perfect solution for the particular detection tasks at Anthony Rowcliffe. As the company hand-cuts all of its cheeses individually with wire, it therefore required a machine that was sensitive enough to identify even the smallest metal contaminants.

Providing Anthony Rowcliffe with reliable metal detection on six cutting lines for its new range of Artisan cheeses for Marks and Spencer, Loma’s IQ³ Metal Detector features a class leading product memory offering space for 200 different products and frequency levels of between 31 and 882KHZ. It is able to calibrate automatically to accommodate the eleven different cheeses in the new range that vary in moisture levels, salt content, density and size, and thereby emit significantly varying frequency levels.

Loma’s IQ³Metal Detector also overcomes issues with the metal RFID tags employed by Anthony Rowcliffe as part of its stringent tracking systems. These tags can cause problems when passing through metal detectors from other suppliers as the tags give off a signal, which could be misinterpreted as indicating that the products have metal contaminants in and could give rise to false rejects. The IQ³Metal Detector’s variable frequency ensures that the machine can learn the signal given off by the tags and then eliminate that signal to find only those contaminants that are actually in the product.

The system’s automatic ‘product learn’ function ensures the maximum sensitivity and accuracy without constant operator adjustment, resulting in the one machine being able to provide protection on all six lines at Anthony Rowcliffe. This avoided the need for the company to buy multiple machines to cope with its various different products.

As the company despatches and inspects products in trays, Loma specified a carriage track reject conveyor, designed to push reject trays down a separate conveyor system to ensure trays with contaminated product are kept separate from trays that have been inspected and found to be safe.

The IQ³ complies with Loma’s outstanding ‘designed to survive’ ethos. It comes as standard with the tough IP69K search head environmental protection and is highly reliable. Also the machine is easy to use, making it simpler for operators to achieve maximum functionality.

Kathy Pattenden, Cutting Room Supervisor at Anthony Rowcliffe comments: ‘Operating the IQ³ Metal Detector on a daily basis, has proved effortless. Having met our standards and adhered to our customers’ strict code of practice, the IQ³ metal detector has recognisably increased production efficiency.’