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Fascinating Design for a Machine That Helps Food Packagers Hit Target Weights for Multiple Items

By Rain Noe - July 10, 2020

in Packaging

I've always wondered how food packagers hit precise weights with multiple items that are different sizes. For instance, if you buy a 12-oz. package of unsliced mushrooms, they're not all the same size--does somebody have to sit there and randomly take different mushrooms in and out to hit the numbers?

No. Instead, they use this machine that does the math for you, and gives feedback with red and green arrows:

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Fraser Pyke

4 years ago

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It's very cool. I used to work at a company that produced clothes pegs, they used a similar process for counting pegs so each bag had the correct amount. A conveyor belt took the pegs from the floor up into a hopper where they were slowly scattered onto a large segmented circle. Think of a large pizza. Each segment had its own scale and a very fast trap door. When a combination of segments hit the desired weight their trap doors opened dumping the pegs into a chute and down into the bagging operation. I imagine the same process is used for lots of small loose items and probably food like candies etc too.

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- Zach Fadness
  
  Fraser Pyke
  
  4 years ago
  
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  You are describing multi-head weighing systems which are common in food production. Manufacturer examples include Multipond and Ishida.
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