Carlisle Technology Solutions

Solution Overview

Need to control your mushroom giveaway and get full traceability back to the piece?

The Symphony™: Pack- off Manager is a net weight management solution from Carlisle that allows you to closely monitor and manage the net weight of trays before they are packed into cartons. Plus, it records all the information you need for traceability purposes.

Key Benefits

• Better weight control (tighter tolerances, less “give-away”, less rework)
• Streamline operator functions, improving productivity, and reducing training requirements
• Visibility – production monitoring, operator monitoring, and yield monitoring
• Traceability of pieces into cartons, cartons into pallets, pallets to customers

How it Works:

The Symphony: Packoff Manager follows this process:

Harvest Rooms

1. A facility may have numerous stations in the harvest room(s), each equipped with a CW-90 check weigher loaded with Carlisle’s software. The operator selects the product (a tray of mushrooms, or a bulk “lug” of mushrooms), and fills it until it is within the allowable tolerances.
   
2. Transaction recording: When the tray/lug is within tolerances, a label is printed on the attached Datamax-O’Neil E-class Mark III printer,  and the operator affixes it to the product (the label has a 2D barcode with all the transaction information)
   

Slicing Area

1. Product Transformation: using a scanner with a keypad and display, the operator can convert one product into another (eg: to convert whole mushrooms into a sliced mushroom product). New product labels are printed for affixing to each tray, and the relationship is recorded for traceability purposes
   

Production Area

1. Packaging: A workstation running Carlisle Technology’s iCap is used for building cartons. The operator takes the trays that have been previously weighed, and scans the barcodes (with the Motorola DS9808 scanner) as they are placed into a carton. When full, a carton label is produced on the Datamax-O’Neil m-class printer. For bulk products, the mushrooms are loaded into cartons, and a label is produced for the carton.
   
2. Yield analysis: Trays are randomly check-weighed for cooler shrink analysis reporting
3. Pallet labelling: When an operator is finished loading a pallet of product (either the pallet is full, or he/she runs out of product), a pallet label is printed and affixed to the pallet. The label has a bar code, which links the pallet to all it’s composing cartons.

 
Features and Functionality

• Centrally controlled product file (products, packaging tare weights) accessible via web browser
• Operators assigned to stations via web browser (used for measuring productivity of operators)
• Filling of product trays (pieces) can be in separate locations from the packaging of cartons

Efficiency Reports:

• Scale report: shows production for each station within a given time period. Report showis products, quantities, weights, and giveaway
• Product report: shows production for all stations within a given time period
• Operator reports: shows production for each operator within a given time period, including efficiency metrics
• Shrink Analysis report: shows weighing on scale v

Traceability Reports:

• Carton pieces report:  shows which pieces are in a particular carton, by either entering the carton ID, or by entering one of the piece IDs
• Tray Detail Information:  shows details about a particular tray (piece), including product #, picking date/time, packaging time/date, operator, carton it went into

Administration Reports:

• Pack-off Product Listing: shows all pack-off products, with their descriptions, weight target and tolerances, tare weights

The iCap Weight Compliance application allows facilities to capture samples of standard weight product in order to provide proof that the product they’re shipping meets the regulations set forth in Canada’s Average System of Net Quantity Determination - where the supplier of a
packaged product is responsible for ensuring that consumers receive, on average, the declared quantity as shown on the label.

The application allows facilities to automate labour intensive manual processes.  At the click of a button, facitlies can prove that the weighted average of a production lot – or – a pallet for that matter – is compliant with the regulations outlined in the Consumer Packaging and Labelling Act.

Carlisle’s Weight Compliance application will monitor the following principles of the Average System:

1. The declared quantity on a package should accurately reflect the quantity being supplied, so the average net contents of the packages in a lot may not be less than the declared net quantity.
2. The control over production should be such that the individual packages are within tolerances. No more than 2.5% of the lot may have a negative error larger than the tolerance.
3. The number of packages which may have excessive negative errors is limited. Not more than one package may contain less than twice the tolerance.

Operators have three options when it comes to setting up a batch. They can schedule by the number of pieces, the number of cartons, or can choose to sample by the pallet. Government regulations provide reference tables that are used by the application to determine sample size
based on the number of pieces in the production lot (or on the pallet if that option is selected). Depending on where the batch quantity falls within these reference tables, operators will need to sample a certain number of pieces in order to meet the requirements set out in the regulations.

Get Brochure

Product giveaway – the difference between what is paid for and what is actually shipped (keeping in mind that you cannot short change the customer) – can be very expensive, especially in the meat business! Carlisle offers software solutions to minimize giveaway and manage the tare weights of various packaging components (including real time inventory and consumption of these components). Changing components and their associate tare weights are simply administered through a Carlisle Solution.

To reduce giveaway – we offer solutions for:

• Componentized Package Tare Weight Management
• Over/under setpoint control on weigh/label stations
• Plant floor display of cumulative giveaway by product
• On-Line SPC Sampling
• Off-Line SPC Sampling
• EARS alerts in case of slippage
• Product Giveaway Web reports – real time
• Digital Dashboards for Management staff