Tray packing automation helps poultry specialist KILOM remain competitive

KILOM is part of the Valouro Group and one of Portugal's leading poultry processors. This means the company is continuously looking at investing in automation, food safety and enhanced operational efficiency to ensure that increasingly demanding customer requirements can be met.

To further modernise its tray packing operations, the company installed a complete integrated solution from Ishida Europe, designed to automate the weighing process while maintaining maximum flexibility across a wide range of fresh poultry products.

Four Ishida CCW-R2 Fresh Food Weighers and three Ishida DACS-GN checkweighers were installed at KILOM. Depending on the equipment configuration, the installed tray packing lines achieve capacities of up to 35 portions per minute on the single-weigher lines and 50 portions per minute on the dual-weigher line, matching the capacity of the downstream traysealers.

The new lines have allowed the company to reduce operators from nine to six per packing line, and increase line efficiencies by up to 33%.

Before installing the Ishida solution, weighing and filling relied heavily on manual operations. This required a higher number of operators and made it more difficult to achieve consistent pack weights while maintaining high production efficiency.

At the same time, KILOM needed to process a wide variety of fresh poultry products - including breast fillets, wings, thighs, livers, hearts and gizzards - often in 700g pack sizes but also switching between different tray formats and product presentations throughout the day.

A challenge was therefore given to Ishida and its local distributor, Divertech: KILOM wanted to: automate the weighing process; improve weight consistency; reduce product giveaway; increase productivity; and maintain flexibility across multiple products. The company also sought to reduce manual handling and improve operator ergonomics as part of its automation strategy.

KILOM chose to partner with Ishida because of its extensive experience in fresh poultry applications and its ability to provide a complete integrated solution rather than standalone equipment. Local support from Portuguese partner Divertec also provided confidence in installation, after-sales service and training.

Rather than supplying individual machines, Ishida proposed a complete integrated tray packing solution specifically designed for KILOM's production requirements. The installation included: three packing lines; four Ishida Fresh Food Weighers; three Ishida checkweighers; infeed elevators, conveyors and automatic tray denesters; and automatic tray handling before sealing.

One of the key advantages of the solution is its flexibility. Depending on the product, the system can operate in "pace packing mode", where portions are presented to operators for manually filling trays, or in direct dump mode, where products such as giblets are automatically filled into trays.

The installation also allows fast recipe changes and quick switching between different tray sizes and packaging formats throughout the day.

Operating for around eight hours per day, the system has transformed KILOM's tray packing process into one that now achieves capacities of up to 35 portions per minute on single-weigher lines and up to 50 portions per minute on the dual-weigher line, matching the downstream tray sealing capacity.

Enhanced weighing accuracy has also reduced product giveaway while ensuring more consistent pack weights. The Fresh Food Weighers provide far greater consistency than manual batching, allowing packs to be filled much closer to the target weight while maintaining compliance with retailer specifications. The weighers are capable of operating at their designed production capacity, with overall line speeds typically determined by downstream equipment rather than the weighing system.

Previously, nine operators were required for the packing operation of each line. This has now been reduced to six operators per line and at the same time, higher productivity levels have been unlocked.

The solution was designed specifically with flexibility in mind, with product and tray changes (typically two to three per day) able to be completed quickly without lengthy unscheduled downtime.

KILOM's operators adapted very quickly following product training, with the system described as "intuitive" and "easy to learn".

Cleaning is similarly efficient, carried out daily and typically takes just 30 minutes, thus helping to maintain food safety standards while minimising downtime, with the equipment performing reliably since installation.

Mariana Santos, Executive General Manager (CEO) at KILOM, said: "We selected Ishida because of their extensive experience in fresh poultry applications. The implementation of Ishida's complete, integrated solution into our production process has transformed our tray packing operation. The main benefits include reduced manual handling, enhanced weighing accuracy, better pack weight consistency and higher production flexibility.

"The flexibility of the Fresh Food Weighers, together with the reliability of the DACS checkweighers and Ishida's renowned project management, gave us confidence that they were the right partner. Overall, the solution has enabled us to improve productivity while maintaining the high-quality standards expected from our customers."