Fun Food Beyond Refreshing With Complete Formulation Control

As the “Makers of Fun Food” experienced a growing business volume, The Jel Sert Company was not about to sacrifice the product quality that has long been one of their trademarks. A FormWeigh.Net® formulation system was installed which enabled them to achieve improved efficiency, quality, and traceability of their formulation process.

From humble beginnings in 1926, the Jel Sert Company has been a family-owned private business dedicated to providing high-quality and high-value food products. Their manufacturing facility located in West   Chicago, Illinois, USA produces freezer bars, desserts, and beverage mixes. Brand names such as Fla-vor-Ice and Otter Pops have been well-known for generations.

Improved batching control with high visibility

With the increase in production demand due to growing business and a commitment to maintain product quality, the company needed to gain greater control of its manufacturing processes. A reduction in clerical activities, elimination of documentation errors, and prevention of batch mistakes were goals for improvement. Jel Sert decided to invest in METTLER TOLEDO’s FormWeigh.Net formulation system. “We needed a system to help streamline and control our formulation process, while at the same time providing greater visibility and traceability of our raw material management”, says Andy Rush, Executive VP of Operations.

Jel Sert installed six weighing stations, including two mobile stations, with the FormWeigh.Net software and ID30 industrial PC terminals. Each station also has weighing platforms, barcode readers, and label printers attached for process tracking. The system guides the operators through each step of the formulation process to ensure a quality batch. Blending Manager Carlos Fregoso states that the batch accuracy has improved dramatically over the past 15 months and nearly 33,000 batches since the system was installed. “Errors are eliminated by scanning ingredients through the system. Wrong or expired ingredients are not allowed into the batch being weighed”, explains Carlos.

The efficiency of the weighing operations was improved as well. Raw material tracking labels are printed automatically and replace previously handwritten information. The labels make prefilled bags easier to identify on the production floor. A manufacturing report is also printed automatically in the QA lab after each batch is weighed, providing a record of all raw material lot numbers and quantities used in the batch.