Ishida opens European industry equipment centre of excellence

Ishida Europe has enhanced its facilities on the continent in creating a new European centre of excellence based in Prague, Czech Republic, writes Neill Barston.

As the business revealed, its latest site is close to the city centre, will provide a variety of training programmes – both practical and classroom based – across Ishida’s extensive range of packing line equipment, including multihead weighers, checkweighers, X-ray inspection systems, tray sealers, seal testers, snacks bagging machines and Industry 4.0 solutions.

In addition, the centre will offer repair and maintenance for customer machines to support Ishida’s European-wide service teams.

Project success

Furthermore, the company has reported another success within the region after recently installing its Ishida IX-GN-4043 x-ray inspection system (below) at Polish natural dried products manufacturer Paula Ingredients.

This has reportedly enhanced product safety and quality while delivering the high production throughput required. The success of the installation means that the company is already considering the purchase of a second x-ray machine.

Based in Kalisz in Central Poland, the Ingredients’ firm specialises in the production of a variety of snacks made from dried fruits and vegetables and aimed at health-conscious consumers. For this sophisticated and demanding target audience, the highest quality standards are essential.

Previously the company used a combination of metal detectors, magnets and sifting equipment to check for foreign bodies in the delicate bulk product which comes in a wide variety of shapes including cubes, slices and flakes. However, this process still allowed occasional unwanted foreign bodies to pass undetected.

Another advantage of the IX-GN-4043 is its simple and intuitive operation. Product changeovers can be carried out in a matter of seconds simply by changing the product pre-sets. Whilst operation of the machine is easy, Ishida also provided full initial training for operators and engineers to ensure its ongoing performance.

“Our intensive use of the Ishida x-ray machine has not affected its functionality or reliability,” comments PAULA Ingredients’ technical director Stanisław Jaśkiewicz.

“As part of this, the easy maintenance of the machine enables us to quickly clean the conveyor. Some of our products contain natural sugars and can be sticky. This occasionally caused problems with other inspection solutions, but with the Ishida Xray system we have overcome this issue.”