As experts in weighing equipment, we’ve heard comments and concerns from many customers about the recent uncertainty in both the global and UK economy.
However, beyond the speculation over what might happen next, there is another trend which we’ve witnessed - businesses boosting their competitiveness by simply concentrating on doing what they do best.
Within manufacturing and food processing – where many of our customers operate - a big part of their focus is ensuring product consistency, maximising asset efficiency and getting their products out of the door as efficiently as possible.
So, it’s perhaps understandable that more intuitive inspection weighing is becoming an ever-important part of their processes.
As leaders in weighing equipment, we at WOMAG support many clients in manufacturing, agriculture, food and beverage, pharmaceuticals and other sectors which rely on inspection weighing to ensure every unit they produce is just right.
I thought we’d take a look at why inspection weighing has perhaps never been more important than it is now.
What is inspection weighing?
Inspection weighing means verifying the weight of products during the production process, ensuring your batch average is achieved and the retailers’ code of practice or relevant industry regulations are met.
On any production line, there can be variations in the weight of both end products and the materials, food ingredients or components which go into them. By accurately weighing and assessing units, manufacturers can optimise materials used in production while automatically removing any substandard items.
This is especially important for products which often vary greatly, like food and drink. Failing to maintain a consistent batch average can result in lost profits due to too many overweight products or non-compliance with product specifications if the weight falls below acceptable limits.
For parts, components and other uniform goods, any discrepancies in weight typically occur because something is wrong! Inspection weighing can quickly identify an issue so that the cause can be investigated and resolved.
And, as mentioned, it’s not just end products which benefit. Inspection weighing can also identify incorrect ingredients, parts or contaminants earlier in the production process.
Across our wide client base, inspection weighing is perhaps most powerful for agriculture, food and other natural, loose or composite products.
How can technology support inspection weighing?
As a concept, weighing products to ensure their quality and conformity has been around since ancient times and gained momentum during the industrial revolution.
Since the early 20th century, inspection weighing has become a feature of most production, processing or packaging lines, with technology making checkweighing increasingly fast, accurate and automated.
In WOMAG’s five decades of experience, the role and importance of inspection weighing has grown exponentially!
Today, checkweighers can be integrated into almost any process, with products effortlessly passing through the scales and automatically being accepted or rejected. They can also include X-ray and metal detection technology to identify and eliminate contaminates.
However, I’d suggest that the biggest advance has been in the use of data, with manufacturers now able to gather real-time weighing information and seamlessly feed it into other diagnostic and control software.
The result is faster, more efficient, higher quality and more transparent manufacturing.
Why is inspection weighing important?
Inspection weighing ensures product consistency and avoids either letting customers down with underweight products or reducing profit margins with overweight products.
Here at WOMAG, we’ve supplied inspection weighing solutions to companies across the UK and beyond for five decades. In that time, our customers have quoted a number of key benefits:
1. Quality assurance
Checking the weight of products (especially those which are vulnerable to variation, such as food and materials) is critical for quality control.
Underweight products in particular can let down customers and result in reputational damage - which is hard to win back!
To maintain consistency, inspection weighing helps detect both underweight or underfilled products - and overweight or overfilled products.
2. Cost savings
Overfilling and wasting resources can be costly!
For fixed average weight goods, where products must meet or exceed a specific average, our inspection equipment can automatically remove any units that are too far above the batch average - preventing ‘product giveaway’ which can threaten profit margins.
At the same time, our checkweighers can continuously monitor and adjust product fill to bring the overall batch average to a profitable level without compromising e-mark compliance.
3. Compliance with standards
There are very few – if any - producers that do not come under the influence of quality standards and other legal requirements!
For instance, packaged goods within the EU and UK will display an e-mark (final EC verification mark in EU law). This mark indicates that the package fulfils EU Directive 76/211/EEC, which specifies the maximum permitted tolerances in package content.
This means the average quantity of product in a batch of prepackages shall not be less than the nominal quantity stated on the label. Any products outside the tolerable negative error (TNE) will violate the e-mark standard and can create legal issues for the manufacturer or retailer selling the product.
Furthermore, UK retailers adhere to a stricter code of practice in quality control than many of their European counterparts, making a rigorous inspection process essential for both UK manufacturers and overseas suppliers targeting the UK market.
4. Production efficiency
As touched on, increasing efficiency is a key area where many of our clients rely on the inspection weighing equipment and solutions we provide.
Issues such as incorrect filling or dosing can slow production and result in compounding issues which can cost time and money.
Avoiding weight discrepancies at various stages of the production process can also avoid downstream bottlenecks, failures or rejections.
The intelligent use of inspection weighing can therefore keep the production line running smoothly, avoid downtime and boost efficiency.
5. Improved customer satisfaction
Quality is all about consistency.
No matter the price-point of what you make, be it top-end premium or low-end value, your customers are most satisfied when your product meets their expectations.
Consistency builds trust and we’ve found inspection weighing is an increasingly important process in ensuring customers receive exactly what they want and expect.
In addition, ensured peace of mind by avoiding subsequent issues such as customer returns and unhappy retailers!
6. Data collection and traceability
Accountability is more important than ever, with transparency and traceability being a pre-requisite for many of the sectors we support with weighing equipment.
When dealing with regulatory bodies or auditors, many of our customers rely on inspection weighing data to provide a comprehensive view of manufacturing practises and outputs.
Fortunately, extensive data collection tools are available across our inspection weighing systems for traceability, analysis and reporting.
This means you can gather real-time information which not only ensures quality but can help identify specific products or batches if an issue arises.
What are the leading inspection weighing solutions?
Here at WOMAG, we supply inspection weighing equipment and solutions from a range of leading global brands.
Solutions start with options such as the RADWAG DWM HY10 Basic Checkweigher. Despite the ‘basic’ tag, it features a vibrant 10.1-inch touchscreen with intuitive control over its high-accuracy magnetoelectric measurement. The pneumatic sorting system ensures swift and accurate product categorisation and the SQL database offers seamless integration with existing production systems.
For evaluating product safety and quality for food producers and packers, we supply the MEKI ONE X-ray inspection system. Small and compact, this system scrutinises individual food packages, identifying a broad spectrum of hazardous foreign bodies such as metals, glass, stones and even dense plastics. The MEKI ONE also provides robust audit trails for compliance and quality control.
We also supply our own WOMAG W-OCM Weigh Price Labeller! This highly adaptable weigh price labeller is ideal for weighing catch weight goods where pricing or label content are dependent on the individual weight. With its advanced software integration, our system provides a comprehensive solution for production line labelling, traceability and regulatory compliance.
These three products are just a small proportion of the solutions we provide from RADWAG, Minebea, Dibal and Giropes.
Using inspection weighing to boost your business
As the UK and rest of the world face new norms and challenges, now is perhaps an opportune time to make sure your quality and operational efficiency is top-notch!
For our customers and partners who produce or package products, inspection weighing may be a more important tool than ever for ensuring they are not only compliant, but also as competitive as possible.
With over five decades of experience, here at WOMAG we create and supply weighing solutions which help increase quality, decrease waste and boost efficiency.
As a trusted name in weighing, we also provide ongoing support and servicing to ensure our customers' inspection equipment operates at peak performance, minimising the risk of costly production line downtime.
The process often starts with a chat - so simply contact us to discover how we can support and improve your inspection weighing.
Please contact us at: https://www.womag.co.uk/pages/contact
- Tom Marren