Metrological testing at Metarom

Ensuring measurement traceability and accuracy is an integral part of the quality-centric approach of Metarom, a French producer of flavours and colours for the food industry.

The French production site in Boves is a modern, highly successful facility that manufactures Metarom’s entire range of flavourings, colourings and caramels in powder, glaze, water-soluble and fat-soluble liquid forms. Several specialised workshops have been set up, each focusing on a different aspect of the process, from colouring caramels, powders, bases and mixtures to distillation and packaging. Across all these different units and processes, however, one application remains critical: weighing.

Prior to production, raw ingredients are formulated in the bases workshop using Mettler Toledo IND690 weighing terminals connected to XS scales.

Metarom also has 14 storage tanks fitted with weighing sensors, providing greater precision and more efficient stock management than a level controller. Weighing capabilities are further provided by the floor-mounted 3-ton weighing systems used to check the weight of large equipment such as hoppers and blenders, while pallet truck scales help operators to measure items while on the move.

Certified to ISO 9001 version 2000 with an HACCP procedure already in place, the Boves plant is driven by an ongoing commitment to quality. Ensuring measurement traceability and accuracy is an integral part of this quality-centric approach. That is why Mr Gumez, the site’s Maintenance & New Works Manager, entrusted the servicing operations to Mettler Toledo.

“I was looking for a weighing specialist that could work on equipment from different manufacturers with the necessary expertise to carry out metrological testing on compact balances, terminals, scales and tanks with built-in sensors,” explained Gumez.

Mettler Toledo conducted an on-site diagnosis of Metarom’s weighing equipment and drew up an annual metrological testing schedule to cover the company’s diverse weighing requirements. One of the things done was to optimise the process of calibrating the under-tank sensors. Using a volume counter linked to the French Accreditation Agency COFRAC, it took a Mettler Toledo technician only two days to calibrate all 14 tanks, each weighing between 150 kg and 10 tons.