How Do Checkweighers Work? Your Guide To Industrial Checkweighers

Checkweighers can ensure compliance with various regulations and are often used in production lines. They also bring many benefits, including cost savings, efficiency and avoidance of expensive fines.

Checkweighers work using pre-set weight limits which you specify beforehand, checking the weight of items in the production line against these values. They can be used in pre-production processes to weigh ingredients but most commonly, they are used at the end of the production line to check weights following processing and packaging. They can also be used to weigh multiple products before shipping.

Learn more about checkweighers, what they are, how they work and why they are used in production lines.

What is an Industrial Checkweigher?

Industrial checkweighers are systems to weigh items in a production line. They can be manual or automatic and will check the weight is within your prespecified range – items can then be sorted or removed from the production line if they do not fall within the tolerance.

They generally consist of:

• An indicator that will display the weight reading
• An infeed belt to control the product before it reaches the scale
• A scale conveyor to weigh the products
• A reject conveyor which will remove products that have incorrect weights out of the production line

In an industrial environment, checkweighers will usually be automatic and can be integrated simply into the production lines. They can be used to check and sort items of almost any weight, from less than a gram up to many kilograms. Checkweighers form an integral part of the production line and bring many benefits with them – the specific features of your checkweigher will vary depending on the brand and model you select.

Why are Checkweighers Used in Industrial Production Lines?

1. Checkweighers make you money. Checkweighers have a positive impact on processes from the beginning, reducing product waste and giveaway. Payback on checkweighers can be easily calculated and they often pay for themselves in a matter of months.
2. Checkweighers help you avoid costly fines. Sample-based weight checking can ensure compliance but using a checkweigher to weigh every package is the more accurate approach. You will see a true reflection of real production and can be 100% sure that every item is compliant, avoiding fines and damage to your reputation. Checkweighers can generate reports to back this up and prove full compliance when needed.
3. Overall processes are aided by a checkweigher. Weighing all packages enables you to monitor and reduce giveaway, providing feedback to other machines in the production line such as filling and slicing machines.
4. You can provide reliable data for quality assurance. Checkweighers can provide real-time reports detailing individual pack weights, batch totals and full average weight data. These reports can be accessed easily and used to provide quality assurance.
5. Labour saving operations. Automatic scales are best suited to industrial production lines – sample based and manual checkweighers require lots of operator intervention time.

Checkweighers have different features to suit all industrial environments and production lines. To talk about the best option for you and learn more about our quality checkweigher range, please call 01788 890235 or email sales@inspiron-gb.co.uk.