Importance of fixed weight

Fixed weight and fixed size packing is steadily becoming more and more popular - and the packing method is on the agenda at many producers. The benefits of fixed weight and/or size packing are primarily found in case ready and food service.

In the supermarkets the logistics and handling of the case-ready products becomes easier, more cost effective, and in the restaurants and catering companies the cooking and preparation of the fixed weight and/or size products becomes easier and more efficient.

When packing meat to fixed weight it is important to the processor to reduce the overweight to an absolute minimum. With the Marel portion cutters it is possible to optimise the cutting on both weight and/or size. The portion cutters can operate as stand-alone units or be integrated into a complete line - eg, with a robot loader, thermoformer, checkweigher and weigh price labeller.

“When purchasing the I-Cut 55 portion cutter we were looking to automate our portion cutting both as labour replacement and because we wanted to ensure accurate portion control. 90% of the time we cut fixed-weight beef steaks for food service customers - so accurate portioning is paramount,” says Darren Lamp, Austral Meat.

Fixed weight batching is another highly important process for manufacturers to keep giveaway as low as possible when packing their products, yet ensuring an exact target weight to be delivered to the customers. The wide range of batching systems from Marel will batch fresh or frozen food items of almost any size into fixed-weight packages. All batchers live up to the most stringent food industry requirements, thanks to their versatility and easy-to-clean designs. Marel’s fixed-weight batchers can operate as stand-alone units or be integrated into a complete packing line - eg, with a marinating unit, thermoformer and weigh price labeller.

Marel is not known only for optimising trays and finished packs. The company’s in-depth knowledge of all processes in the food industry has made the company a reliable partner in turnkey projects and concepts for complete processing control. Marel has the ability to implement systems throughout the processing area, which gives online yield control, production reports and real-time data process monitoring in various departments such as deboning, cut-up etc.

“The StreamLine deboning and trimming system was the first system that fulfilled all our needs for online monitoring of our production and it immediately appealed to us,” says Tim Aitken, CEO of Greenlea Premier Meats.