The application
Three Compact Graders are located at different production stages. The first one, installed after the chiller, classifies large and small B-grade whole chickens. The most uniform products are selected for the cut-up line. The other two Compact Graders grade final products such as wings (different sizes are needed to meet customers’ requirements) and whole chickens. For customers who demand particular accuracy, items are weighed a second time. 85% of products for the national market are whole chicken, 15% are cuts. Sofía Ltda operates a two-shift regime of about 15 hours in total. The equipment is in constant use without major issues or unscheduled stops. With three Compact Graders working continuously and having acquired three new ones, Sofía Ltda has decided to add Innova software to monitor and store production data.
The results
Miguel Ángel Cirbian Peña, Manager Finished Products, says, “We use the graders to be more precise in weighing the final products. Apart from weighing in-line, the graders give us more accurate final product weights. We use the Compact Graders to divide whole products into weight ranges and choose the best destination for them, cut-up or whole griller. We use our new Compact Graders to weigh small products such as wings, whole legs, thighs, breast fillets and more. We are delighted with the accuracy of the equipment. The machines don’t need a lot of maintenance and their compact design doesn’t take up much space. The control panel is very user-friendly. Everybody can operate and program it."