Inspection systems for the confectionery and snack industry

Reliable, precise and user-friendly X-ray inspection systems, metal detectors and separators from Mesutronic Why detect foreign bodies? Despite all safety precautions, the contamination of confectionery and snacks with foreign substances is unfortunately a problem in every manufacturing company. If these are not reliably detected and not removed from the production chain, the effects are often dramatic. Damage to processing machines, problems during audits, loss of supplier contracts and, in the worst case, severe image problems among consumers are often the result of inadequate control systems....

Incoming goods area The avoidance of foreign bodies in the final product begins with the examination of the supplied raw materials. For this purpose, metal detectors and metal separators check flours and powders during the emptying of lorries and big bags - either in the pneumatic conveying line or in free fall. Bag containers of 25 kg or 50 kg can also be examined using conveyor belt systems. This means that, in order to minimize risk, impurities can be recognized at this early stage and traced back to the supplier. Type P-TRON 05 GM separators are available in nominal diameters of up to 200...

Production The use of test systems at different stages of the production process allows increased process reliability and a reduction in the costs caused by foreign bodies. On the one hand, mechanical processing machines such as mills or extruders can be protected against damage. On the other, at this point, product components discharged with metals are associated with significantly reduced loss of value in the production chain. Depending on the type of product, this point in the process can also be a CCP if a check after the final packaging is not possible or associated with significantly worse...

METRON 07 FL metal detection systems are placed directly on the forming shoulder of the VFFS bagging machine. Thanks to the strong shielding, the devices can deliver high accuracy with minimal installation space, regardless of whether crisps, sweets or pastries are examined. Different bag diameters can be easily filled with replaceable funnels. These represent a good alternative, especially when packaging films containing aluminium are used, as they make later investigation with a metal detector more difficult or impossible. These are perfectly complemented by conveyor belts of the TRANSTRON...

Outgoing goods area In packaging, the task of quality assurance is of prime importance. According to the HACCP criteria, a final check for foreign bodies should take place if re-contamination cannot be ruled out. This usually means the inspection of the product when its primary packaging is closed. Inspection in any secondary packaging is also possible. However, here a check must be made of whether the recognition accuracy at this point is still sufficient. The most common variant of inspection in this area are conveyor belt systems of the TRANSTRON type. As a supplement to our metal detectors,...

The classic final inspection is carried out using a tunnel metal detector of the METRON 07 CI type. Like all other systems in the 07 series, it allows seamless logging, automated test routines and simple reporting via USB, the mesuNET network or via direct log export. Also upstream in the production process, these systems, with available tunnel widths of up to three metres and high recognition accuracy, are very well suited to the examination of products such as chocolate bars, pastries, waffles or rubber goods after they have been in baking or cooling tunnels. In order to detect even the finest...

X-ray inspektion In the sector of confectionery and snacks in particular, inspection for foreign bodies by means of X-rays offers diverse advantages in addition to the search for metals alone. In addition to the detection of other types of contamination such as glass or stones, quality algorithms make a significant contribution to customer satisfaction. For the inspection of products with metallic components, X-ray inspection systems are the only meaningful way to carry out a final, policy-compliant inspection. Metal detectors offer, in the case of products which are easy to test and have no...

Image processing functions The following functions are offered in particular for the confectionery and snack industry, adding significant value beyond pure foreign body control: Clip hiding and clip completeness check This function checks, on the one hand, the completeness of closure clips using a plurality of algorithms, and on the other, it ignores the mostly metallic clip, so foreign body identification is not negatively affected. Counting This function is used to reliably detect missing parts in collective packaging. A common example of this are missing pralines in a closed box. Weight check...

Digital products and services The successful operation of inspection systems is no longer solely dependent on purchasing of the right product, but also on how well the system is connected to the people and machines in its environment. Mesutronic offers a wide range of support services that increase the integration of our products. Depending on the type of electronics used, our systems can already provide information as standard via analogue signals, various bus systems or Ethernet. Information is received by either controllers, process control systems or other, higher-level machines along the...

mesuREMOTE allows our service specialists from Kirchberg im Wald to access any connected system, often avoiding time-consuming on-site deployment. Communication is secured according to current IT standards, encrypted and takes place solely after approval by the customer at all times. All of this can additionally be secured on the hardware side via a key switch. This means that any uncoordinated manipulation of systems by Mesutronic or third parties is reliably excluded. The electronic autoTEST tester allows significant reduction in manual test cycles in devices of the 07 electronics series. Signals...