Ishida’s technology enhances product quality for Dobosz

Ishida weighing and inspection technology is playing a major role in delivering enhanced product quality and customer confidence for the leading Polish confectionery company Dobosz.

The Ishida equipment – a multihead weigher, check weigher, and an X-ray inspection system – has enabled Dobosz to increase packing speeds, reduce giveaways and implement improved detection capabilities. As a result, the company has maximized output and efficiencies while at the same time achieving higher levels of brand protection.

Established in 1993, Dobosz today offers a wide range of luxury sweets and a variety of energy and fruit bars which, as well as being sold in Poland, are now exported throughout the world. With this huge growth in demand for its products, the company sought to further automate its packing processes.

“As a start-up business, in the early days we carried out many weighing and inspection operations manually, but this was not sustainable as the business started to grow,” explained general manager Sebastian Wawrzycki.

“We therefore needed high-performance and reliable equipment and chose Ishida because of the company’s experience, technical support, and reputation in the market.”

The Ishida machines weigh and inspect a variety of sweets in several pack formats, including cartons and pillow packs, in weights from 200g to 4kg, as well as 20g, 30g, and 50g bars. Dobosz was able to easily integrate the equipment with the existing packing machine, enabling the line to handle more products and deliver higher output.

In particular, the Ishida IX-EN-2493-S X-ray inspection system ensures product quality and provides peace of mind for this increase in production. The X-ray system enables Dobosz to detect even the smallest contaminants, using Ishida’s unique self-learning Genetic Algorithm (GA) technology to offer maximum detection sensitivity and reliability.

“Although the likelihood of our products becoming contaminated is very low, there may be rare occasions where a small piece of metal or plastic from one of the machines gets into the pack,” said Wawrzycki. “With the Ishida X-ray system, we have the certainty that should such an incident occur, it will be quickly identified and the pack rejected, thus maintaining our rigorous quality standards.”

Another benefit of the Ishida IX-EN is its ability to check for other quality issues. Specifically for Dobosz, if the cutting machine on the bars line fails to operate and two bars remain joined together, this will be picked up and rejected by the X-ray system.

Wawrzycki cites the IX-EN’s fast-learning GA technology and quick and efficient reject systems as two of its major benefits. For the multihead weigher, he points to its gentle operation – particularly beneficial for the more brittle sweet varieties – high product control and feeding efficiency, and its excellent weighing accuracy, all of which help to maximize throughput.

The Ishida machines are all easy to set up and operate. Changeovers can be carried out at the touch of a button. Cleaning and maintenance are also simple procedures, with cleaning taking around 10 to 15 minutes after each production shift. Ishida provided full training on the machines as part of the sales and installation process.

The Ishida equipment was supplied and installed by Ishida’s Polish agent Fenix Systems. Wawrzycki says all the machines have been extremely reliable, with full technical support provided by Ishida and Fenix should there be any issues.

“Ishida offers very good equipment that is reliable and has the best performance on the market,” he adds. “They are recommended not only by our suppliers but also by other companies who use these types of machines. Their reliability and these recommendations were major factors in our decision to purchase.

“For us, the main benefits have been improved product quality and customer confidence and by reducing complaints and ensuring trouble-free production, our investment has paid for itself quickly. And of course, the machines’ reliable and trouble-free operation also translates into valuable savings in the long run.”