Tailor-made solution for a company in the sausage sector

Becoming a reference supplier in weighing and labelling and forging a lasting and trusting relationship with a company requires, according to our experience of more than 30 years in the industrial sector, having some skills. Among them, always showing great closeness in treatment, not forgetting that one client, like the rest, is unique and different, and, above all, being able to offer quick responses to what they need and demand.

The latter is helped by the fact that we have our own product design and development team at DIBAL, professionals with high capabilities to adapt standard solutions to very specific customer requirements. An example of this is what happened to us recently with a leading company in the sausage sector belonging to an international food group with 10 production centers in Spain and a broad presence also in Europe and the rest of the world. We tell you the success story.

BACKGROUND AND NEW NEED

DIBAL´s link with the company dates back a long time, when more than 15 years ago they told us of their desire to change some weighing indicators in one of their most important processing plants. The supplier they worked with had ceased operations and they were looking for other alternatives. They chose us for the combination of product quality/service quality and, from that moment on, the relationship strengthened until we became their trusted collaborator in weighing solutions.

Recently, this client told us that they needed mobile, robust, watertight weighing equipment with very specific ergonomic characteristics that would allow them to control the final traceability of the Iberian hams at any point in their facilities. The Iberian ham regulations establish that each piece is unique and must be within certain weight ranges. It was also essential to collect the information regarding each piece (the ear tag number, the plastic ´pendant´ that is placed in the cattle´s ears to identify it) via RFID and transfer it to its ERP to generate the corresponding legal report.

The solution that the company had been applying to carry out this traceability control was completely manual: the operators wrote down the information on paper and then entered it by hand into the system, with the consequent risk of errors occurring.

THE DIBAL SOLUTION

The solution proposed by DIBAL was the design and installation of five mobile weighing equipment with:

• AISI304 steel frame and wheels.
• Stainless steel single cell platform.
• VT-1200 industrial indicator with weighing application.
• External label printer with optional waterproof drawer for cleaning.
• Scanner.

From the receipt of the client´s requirements to the delivery of the mobile equipment to the plant, barely three months passed. The DIBAL Departments involved in the project were Commercial, Product Engineering, Industrial Production and Technical Service, and the work was divided into the following phases/stages:

1. Initial meeting with the client to fully understand the project, its requirements and working conditions.
2. Joint work of the DIBAL Commercial and Design team to share the client´s needs and the subsequent development of an initial proposal.
3. Presentation of the solution and review of the proposal to include in the design the machine adjustments required by the client.
4. Manufacturing of equipment.
5. Installation of the equipment in the four production centers that presented the need.

CONCLUSIONS

This simple solution has allowed the company to simplify, automate and digitize part of its process, which has resulted in increased efficiency, reduced errors and greater production control. The response we have received from the client has been, once again, very positive. In fact, and given the usefulness of the solution, its technical managers, on their own initiative, decided to apply this same work process with white ham, framing it within their global plan called ´Blockchain´.

The project has served to further strengthen the client´s relationship with DIBAL, and we are convinced that we will continue to supply it with weighing, labeling (manual and automatic) and metal detection solutions for its different work centers, both in Spain and in the rest of the world.

This custom-made machine also has great possibilities in the fishing industry. The production processes are similar, with demanding working conditions in terms of hygiene and cleanliness of the facilities and machinery.