Pet Food
Weighing and inspection technologies even pets can trust!
Reliable solutions for pet food production
Ensuring products are safe and contamination-free has always been the most important premise for the pet food industry. However, new trends in pet food production are forcing manufacturers to be flexible whilst complying with regulations and sustaining supply. With its broad product portfolio of weighing and inspection solutions, Minebea Intec offers manufacturers the right solution for future-proofing their business.
Metal detectors, Vision systems, X-ray inspection equipment as well as software are used at several points in pet food production to exclude contamination by foreign bodies made of metal, stones, plastic or other materials. This starts even before processing, where the basic ingredients are examined for possible contamination. During later processing steps, such as mixing the ingredients, product contamination can be caused by rubbing from containers or machines and finally, packaging is also checked by inspection solutions. Dynamic Checkweighers such as Flexus® and Synus® are equipped with electromagnetic force compensated load cells for most accurate weighing which in turn can also automatically adjust fill levels to reduce give-away.
"Our portfolio includes systems for all areas: For use in incoming goods, for intermediate storage of raw materials, for the actual production process as well as for packaging and final quality inspection."
Matthias Rehren,
Global Sales Manager Key Account and OEM Business
at Minebea Intec.
The benefits for our customers in the pet food industry We make your production more efficient through high-quality and fully automated weighing and inspection technologies.
- Product quality assurance
- Fewer product rejects and waste
- Reduced give-away
- Automatic fill level adjustments
- Reduced personnel costs
- Compliance with regulations such as HAACP, IFS and BRC
- Easy integration into existing infrastructure
- Flexibility through customisable systems
- Ensured data security
- Complete product recording and provision of data for various statistical evaluations
- Intuitive operation for recipe management etc.
- Investment security
- Compliance with pre-packaging regulations without random sample checks
How-to Guide How to protect your products from recalls
Pet food manufacturers who choose a critical control point of foreign object detection benefit in a number of ways. First and foremost is the assurance of product quality and thus the protection of pets. Contaminated products can lead to expensive recalls and brand damage.
Learn how foreign object detection and level control technologies can minimise this risk and safeguard your production processes in our How-to Guide.
Best Practice
Pet Food Manufacturer reduces give-away and increases efficiencies
The customer had noticed that all the tins of pet food they were manufacturing were being over-filled. Minebea Intec recommended a high speed checkweigher to remove the requirement for sampling by checking the weight of each can and reducing give away to an absolute minimum.
Reduced give-away, automated checkweighing, automated fill-level adjustment and reduced staff costs are all benefits for this customer as a result of the Flexus® twin lane checkweigher.
Efficient Pet Food Production
The pet population boomed across many continents during COVID-19 lockdowns as many of us spent our working days at home. Combine this with a population that’s increasingly knowledgeable about food and ingredients and we find ourselves in a position whereby pet owners are demanding more from their pet food.
The right solution for every process step Increase the quality, speed and safety in your production
New vision systems for automated end-of-line quality inspection
Three different sized vision systems can now be used by users based on the requirements of their production line. The compact SmartInspector® can be integrated into existing conveyor belts and completes essential inspection options with minimal installation space. The VisioCompact® enables a more comprehensive two-sided inspection with numerous inspection options, also with a minimal footprint. The VisioPointer® system offers the widest range of inspection criteria of any single unit, supported by three cameras as standard, multiple types of illumination and optional side and satellite cameras for multi-sided analysis. Added to this is the range of customised solutions as Inline-Inspector® for integration into packaging machines. Cameras and lighting in the systems can also be extended beyond the near-infrared spectrum to hyperspectral analysis.
Vistus® Pipeline - the optimal solution for the pet food industry
Vistus® Pipeline meets the most stringent sensitivity and technical requirements of manufacturers processing viscous and liquid food and pet food products. The aim is to ensure that products leave the factory free from metal contamination. Minebea Intec metal detectors support compliance with industry regulations such as HACCP, IFS and BRC. They protect brand image and avoid costly product recalls. The system includes well-known Vistus® electronics, intuitive touch displays and optional interfaces for monitoring and control. Different types of separators and various connections and mounting options are available. A wide range of variants and dimensions are available for individual requirements and applications, enabling precise integration into the production line. Of course, we also offer individual engineered-to-order solutions on request.
100-percent sample reliability on the packaging line
Checkweighers are used to ensure 100-percent sample reliability on the packaging line. Their integrated separation systems make sure that any defective products are removed from the product flow without stopping the production process. They also help to improve production efficiency using the checkweighing data that they collect.
Minebea Intec offers a variety of checkweighers for these tasks. They can be configured in accordance with individual requirements and, if customers have very specific requirements, customised versions can even be produced. With Flexus®, we are offering users high-resolution load cell technology that enables maximum throughput with absolute precision even at high process speeds of up to 2.6 m/s.
Needs-based, flexible checkweighing
Some manufacturers of pet food may need to be checkweighed after the actual production process is complete for quality management purposes, to make sure that the product weight is correct and that the product is complete. One solution that Minebea Intec offers for this task is Combics® – a series of verifiable industrial bench scales that can be tailored to the required maximum capacities and resolutions. The Combics series also offers a special single-workstation solution for the pre-packaging checking of pet food goods, which is particularly useful in smaller-scale production processes. Automatic statistics and print outs as well as graphical evaluations on the scale display help users with their day-to-day tasks.
The cost-effective checkweigher solution
Essentus® is an innovative solution and meets the needs of our customers who have clearly defined requirements for these systems.
We are often asked for a simple, inexpensive entry-level model that enables reliable, precise check weighing and classification on the packaging line. That’s where the Essentus efficiency, which offers the essential weighing functions, comes in. For customers who require more, the Essentus performance offers a checkweigher with advanced capabilities.
Freefall metal detection system
The freefall metal detection system Vistus® ensures the reliable inspection and removal of metallic foreign bodies from any kind of pet food products in granule form that is transported with the use of gravity through a pipe, e.g. kibble, semi-moist, fresh, dehydrated, freeze-dried and raw infused food and treats.
- Minimum installation height for easy integration into any application
- True In-Process Validation. This functionality guarantees correct performance testing
- Cost effective control of up to four search coils via one terminal
Reliable X-ray inspections
The X-ray inspection systems in our Dymond series are extremely versatile and are ideal for inspecting packaged pet food goods at the end of the production process, for instance. The systems reliably detect foreign objects in the product and enables hollow spaces to be detected in products and check whether the product contents fill the entire packaging. Whether the food products are dry or contain liquid, in cartons, bags or portion packs makes no difference to these systems. To meet the individual requirements of each production line, Minebea Intec offers three different Dymond models with belt widths of 200 mm to 800 mm. Multi-track applications with up to eight tracks are also possible with Dymond.
Process control of batches and recipes in production
The integrated control system makes it easy to automate weighing and process batch applications. The software Batch-PMS can be easily integrated into existing network and system infrastructures of various industries. It includes modules for process control, production management, recipe management, data management and many further options.
Your benefits:
- Simple and modular operating concept including multi-user operation
- Easy integration into existing network and system infrastructures
- Outstanding connectivity
- High data safety including integrated backup functionality
Innovative software for process optimisation
Besides sophisticated hardware systems designed in accordance with hygiene standards, the related software is another important factor in the production of high-quality pet food. Minebea Intec has a range of innovative options in its portfolio for producers in this area, too. The statistical process control software SPC@Enterprise helps manufacturers to guarantee product quality, safety and productivity.
The current release of SPC@Enterprise 4.0, offers users a comprehensive tool that combines the logging of samples and automatic in-process checks for the pet food industry. It also enables the efficient networking of various equipment and systems from Minebea Intec and other suppliers, rapid process control thanks to a powerful monitoring program, the easy creation of production and verification statistics, and simple data backup options to minimise the risk of data loss.
Mediacenter
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| Article // Efficient Pet Food Production | 276 KB | |||
| Best Practice // Pet Food Manufacturer reduces give-away by up to 5 tonnes per day | 641 KB | |||
| Video // Pet Food | 11 B | youtube |
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