Ishida speed and efficiency help Barba Stathis to build on its success

For over half a century Barba Stathis has provided authentically Greek products of the highest quality, safety and innovation. Thanks to its Integrated Crop Management system and state-of-the-art equipment at its facilities, the company ensures its vegetables retain all their freshness and nutritional value from harvest to consumption.

Multihead weighers have been part of the Barba Stathis packaging process since the 1980s and the installation of the latest Ishida models is part of the company's investment in continuous improvement to ensure that it retains and builds on its market leadership.

Barba Stathishas oneof the most sophisticated, technologically advanced and automated packing plants for fresh and frozen produce in Europe. The automation projectat its Sindos facilitywas conceived and implemented in different steps, commencing in 2017.

According to Vassilis Papoulia, Industrial Infrastructure and Technological Development Director at Barba Stathis, the vision and rationale behind selecting Ishida equipment and the re-design of the production processes was not only to meet immediate production requirements but also to collect valuable data for further investigation and to continuously enhance the production process and to optimise process efficiencies.

"We knew Ishida could deliver all these to give us the guarantee of better performance," said Vasilis Papoulias.

The six 14-head multihead weighers and a 20-head model for mix applications, from Ishida's CCW-RV and CCW-RVE ranges, are handling a wide range of frozen vegetables, vegetable and rice mixes, pastas and plant-based products in pack sizes from 300g to 2.5kg for retail markets and a 10kg pack for the foodservice sector.

Across all the different product lines, output has improved by as much as 10%. Pack weights are also more consistent with product giveaway reduced by a further 1.5% compared with the previous setup.

"Our main criteria in the selection of the weighers were to achieve superior efficiency, higher capacity and excellent weighing accuracy from a supplier who could provide comprehensive service support," said Antigonos Maltezos, Plant Manager Frozen Foods

A major benefit of the Ishida RV and RVE models is their ability to achieve excellent accuracy while maintaining high speeds. Features such as programmable digital filtering and advanced automatic feeder adjustment help to move product more quickly along the vibratory feeders, and the speeding up of weigh head stabilisation provide more available weight combinations even at fast speeds. Speeds have been further enhanced by optimisation of the opening and closing profiles of the weigh hoppers.

The machines' ease of set up and operation are also vital benefits to enable Barba Stathis to easily handle its vast product ranges, with up to seven product changeovers every day. Long-term reliability is another critical factor as the machines are in operation 24 hours a day, while their waterproof construction allows fast daily cleaning in around 20 minutes.

Alongside the multihead weighers, four Ishida DACS-GN-SE-050 checkweighers carry out a final weight check in line with Barba Stathis's stringent quality standards, as well as to meet various retailer and legislative requirements. Like their multihead counterparts, the checkweighers combine a rugged and waterproof construction with Ishida's proprietary loadcell technology for consistently high weighing accuracy.

The intuitive keypad display ensures ease of operation, while quick-release stainless steel conveyor belts further improve hygiene and facilitate faster cleaning.

The latest milestone for Barba Stathis was the installation of Ishida's Data Capture System (IDCS) on its Ishida checkweighers. IDCS gathers all the statistics from the checkweighers to allow Barba Stathis to minimise giveaway and waste and to enhance the Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE) of each line.

"The performance and reliability of all the Ishida equipment have enabled us to increase productivity without compromising on product safety or quality," concluded Antigonos Maltezos.

"We anticipate a payback on our investment within three years, and we will certainly be investing in further Ishida multihead weighers and checkweighers as we continue to grow our business, according to Vasilis Papoulias' vision."