Working closely with its customer Grampian Country Chickens of Banff, Scotland, Ishida Europe has devised a means of allowing accurate label placement onto whole chickens as part of a fully automatic weigh price labelling system.

Ishida has supplied its FDP 3000SE weigh price labeller - which also includes a special Bird Turning Device so that each chicken is correctly presented to the labeller - to replace what was formally a far more labour intensive operation.

Ishida claims that the success of the installation has led Grampian to install a further three Ishida weigh price labellers for its chicken portions lines.

Part of the Grampian Country Food Group, the factory at Banff processes around 250,000 birds every week, supplying all the major retailers as well as products under its own Grampian Brand.

Prior to the installation of the Ishida weigh price labeller, whole birds were hand weighed and labelled. As well as tying up personnel, the operation was repetitive and involved continual lifting. Grampian therefore required a more automated system that would still ensure an accurate placement of the label onto the rear of the wrapped chicken.

"The problem with whole birds is their irregular shape, which also differs a great deal from bird to bird," explained commercial manager Gordon May. "Before Ishida the label applicators on the market couldn't cope with such diversity."

The Ishida Weigh Price Labeller overcomes this problem, thanks to the six independently sprung fingers on its applicator. When applying the label, each finger only stops when contact is made with the surface. Thus even on curved or uneven surfaces, they ensure that all parts of the label are affixed to the pack.

Another critical issue for the system is ensuring that the bird is correctly presented under the labeller. As the birds are over-wrapped sideways immediately before the weighing and labelling operation, Ishida devised a special Bird Turning Device to prepare the birds for labelling. In addition, the installation of driven side belts on the Ishida weigh price labellers' infeed conveyor helps to further guide the packs into the exact place for accurate labelling.

Ishida says that the success of the first Ishida weigh price labeller at Grampian has led the company to specify the machines when replacing existing weigh price labellers in other parts of its operation.

"Reliability is critical to our operation," confirmed Gordon May at Grampian Country Foods - Banff. "We need machines that continue to operate day in, day out. The Ishidas have proved extremely robust and reliable. We have had hardly any problems with them and, where an issue has arisen, Ishida's response has been extremely fast and efficient."

Ease of use is also an important area where the equipment score highly, continues May. Fast product changeover - which in the Ishida can be achieved at the touch of a button for each pre-programmed product - is particularly vital with Grampian packing around 110 different lines daily.

In addition, one Ishida weigh price labeller features a double printer configuration, enabling two different products to be labelled during a single packing run. The products are identified by their differing target weights and the Ishida then sends a signal to the appropriate labeller.

The Ishida weigh price labellers operate on either catch weight or fixed weight with e prepack regulations, since retailers are requiring both options depending on product. The Ishida weigh price labeller can - in addition to weight and prices - also print a variety of information such as use-by dates, ingredients, location, traceability codes etc.

"As with any commodity market, business is very competitive," commented Grampian's site director Frank Bolton. "As such we need to operate as efficiently as possible. Ishida has provided reliable, competent equipment with excellent service and speed of response to make a vital contribution to the smooth running of our operation."