Marel (Iceland) - The ability to quality grade and weigh a broiler accurately is an essential pre-condition for ensuring that the best and most profitable use is made of it.

In recent years line speeds of poultry processing plants have increased along with the requirement for ever more accurate weighing for sizing, batching and yield control. Give-away, yield loss and wrongly allocated whole broilers are all issues faced by today’s poultry processors fighting to defend tight margins.

Any new equipment promising to weigh consistently accurately at the highest line speeds will therefore always find a ready audience!

A new whole product weigher:
These were reasons enough for Marel Stork Poultry Processing to develop SmartWeigher, an all-new whole broiler weigher for its high-speed processing systems. SmartWeigher is already in everyday operation in plants in Europe and the USA. Weights obtained in SmartWeigher are used to determine how and by which modules each broiler is cut. With the help of accurate weighing (and quality grading) every broiler can be put in its most profitable form.

Simple robust weighing bridge:
The SmartWeigher weigh bridge is simple, robust and very compact. It consists of a section of Sigma track, installed into a conventional Sigma overhead conveyor system, to which load cell and vibration sensors are attached. Broilers pass over the weigh bridge with no acceleration or deceleration. Products are weighed in the processing shackle, without opening the shackle or removing the products from the shackle.

Innovative vibration management for maximum weighing accuracy:
Friction and vibration are the main enemies of accurate weighing. SmartWeigher incorporates a vibration sensor which picks up any vertical vibrations. The weigher’s electronics then compensates for these vibrations, ensuring that they cannot compromise weighing accuracy.

Both the vibration sensor and its electronics are an excellent example of synergy within the Marel Group. The technology was originally developed to be able to weigh fish accurately on board Icelandic trawlers pitching and rolling through the rough Northern seas.

Easy to live with:
SmartWeigher’s weigh bridge has a single sensor, which, once installed, never has to be moved. The system is calibrated during assembly and no further calibration is necessary. The SmartWeigher is virtually maintenance-free.

Simple pleasing design:
SmartWeigher has been designed not just to excel at its job but also to look totally at home in a hygienic food processing environment. All surfaces are smooth without blind spots and can be washed down easily; electronic controls are contained within the weigher’s beam. Safety has been thought of too. All potential nip points are effectively guarded.

Quite simply, the smart way to weigh:
Extremely high accuracy at high speed, user-friendliness and low service and maintenance requirements make SmartWeigher a smart investment. Together with IRIS, the new vision system from Marel Stork Poultry Processing, SmartWeigher will help processing plant management make the best and most profitable use of each and every broiler.