Product Loss Prevention
Reduce Giveaway with Less Overfilling
Optimal raw material exploitation depends on accurate and efficient filling systems. Understanding the different volumetric- and gravimetric-filling technologies allows bulk food producers to optimize their yield.
Improving the yield of bulk materials or crops through more efficient processing operations is a key issue in production. Food producers are looking at different areas in which savings by reducing waste can be realized. One important aspect is the loss of raw materials. Even when raw material losses are incorporated within the budgeted bill of materials, those “waste allowances” can be significant. Some organizations have allowances of up to 25% on some raw materials, according to a recent report from Waste & Resources Action Programme, a nonprofit organization in the United Kingdom.
Common causes of raw-material yield loss include startup/changeover waste, defective products, floor waste, giveaway, and quality assurance sampling.
Reducing giveaway when filling
Handling bulk materials often terminates with a filling step. Materials are transferred within the company and finally filled into containers of different sizes, such as drums, intermediate bulk containers, or big bags. Many organizations, however, fear falling foul of the weights-and-measures approval and that leads to overfilling. Manufacturers need a system that fills containers as required by law, but with minimal giveaway.
Speed versus accuracy
Filling is a dynamic operation with the goal of finding the optimal balance between speed and accuracy. If fill speed is fast, then accuracy is low, and vice versa. Once that characteristic is known, then a trade‐off can be made in selecting the operating point that best balances your need for higher accuracy, minimum product giveaway and high throughput.
Volumetric versus gravimetric filling
Which system is the best when filling bulk materials? Typically, filling machines use either volumetric or gravimetric methods to control fill quantity. Volumetric fillers, such as flow meters, are immune to impacts from tank agitation or they allow simultaneous multiple feeds. They can suffer from a number of severe problems, such as changes in material properties, including viscosity or density. In comparison, filling by gravimetric methods clearly helps reduce the risk of overfilling. These benefits include:
- It is more accurate and can operate in a smaller tolerance band.
- A gravimetric filling machine (TCO) can be the sole means by which a company determines compliance of individual packages and production lots with legislation governing net content.
In practice, a huge variety of materials are filled and a corresponding variety of filling machines exist. METTLER TOLEDO, with its broad range of globally approved products and sensor technologies, can meet the challenge of just about any filling requirement with highly accurate solutions to reduce overfilling.
Download the new filling guide that provides guidance to select the optimal filling solution here:
Download the guide