Testing – Bergia-Frites relies on MULTIPOND multihead weigher for weighing their potato specialties

Multipond Wägetechnik GmbH (Netherlands) – Founded in 1931, the family-owned Dutch Bergia-Frites is an innovative manufacturer of fried potato specialties. The company first began with the production and sales of fresh, fried potato goods. Due to the changing requirements of the market, today it also produces frozen products for deep fryers, microwaves, combination steamers and regenerative ovens. In total, approximately 43 employees work for this potato specialist located in Roermond.

To optimize its operations, the company has recently built a new plant for final packaging. Whenever its highly-valued potato products must be weighed, General Manager Edgar Meeuwissen chooses MULTIPOND multihead weighers.As a result, the company recently installed five MP 16-7100/2500-H type weighing systems in its new plant. The systems were combined with FFS machines. Overall, approximately 300 tons of fried potato products are packaged daily; even at this rate, their capacities are far from exhausted. When working in a 3-shift operation mode, the products are precisely and quickly weighed and packaged in one shift thanks to a most modern packaging system.

The finished, frozen products are delivered to the five weighing systems via a state-of-the-art vibratory system. Once it has arrived at the top on the weigher, the product is first conveyed to the prefeed hoppers by the radially positioned feed trays and then to the weigh hoppers underneath. The system operates based on the principle of combining partial portions. Using the partial portions, a computer determines the best combination to achieve or comes closest to the targeted weight.

Then, the finished portions are delivered to the timing hopper, which discharges it in the exact center of the forming tube in the FFS.

One of the reasons for choosing to purchase a multihead weigher from MULTIPOND is the fact that a large weight range must be covered – target weights are between 100 g and 5,000 g. MULTIPOND is the only manufacturer that could implement this with a calibration over the entire weight range. Depending on target weight, weigher performance is between 60 and 100 weighings per minute.

Furthermore, a significant advantage was that MULTIPOND Benelux B.V. has a certified calibration; this has allowed us to stop using control scales, dramatically cutting costs. Naturally, this is only due to the high accuracy of MULTIPOND weighers.

General Manager Edgar Meeuwissen is also extremely satisfied with the weighers' results: "In terms of accuracy, our operations have improved significantly. We now save up to 4 g per package in comparison to before. Therefore, the average at the end of the day is exactly at the target weight."

All product contact parts can be removed quickly and without tools, and have been exactly matched to the requirements of the products to be weighed in order to ensure a perfect product flow. The system is operated using a convenient color touchscreen monitor. Edgar Meeuwissen says: "One of the most important criteria for us was a fast and easy to operate weighing system. Our employees quickly became familiar with the handling and operation of the machines."

The Bergia-Frites Team feels as if it is in good hands with MULTIPOND. They are also pleased in terms of service and on-site support, according to Edgar Meeuwissen.

About Multipond:

MULTIPOND is the sales and service division of the German based manufacturing company ATOMA which has been established since 1946. The first automatic weighing system for the packaging industry was launched in 1963. It is positioned as the market leading innovator in the design and manufacture of customized multihead weighing systems for the packaging industry. Headquarters and manufacturing facilities are in Waldkraiburg, Germany, about 65km east of Munich. Beside the global network of sales and service representatives, there are four wholly owned sales and service subsidiaries in the UK, the Netherlands, France and the US.