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Stevens Group solves Ming Foods' checkweighing problem

The Stevens Group are proud to announce that Ming Foods have chosen their 'Vantage' dynamic checkweigher to help ensure accurate distribution of their flagship product - pancakes for Crispy Duck. Ming Foods are the leading manufacturer and supplier of premium quality Chinese pancakes for wholesale to specialist ethnic supermarkets, wholesale suppliers and restaurants. Ming Foods was founded by Mr Van Minh Duong, who has over 20 years' experience in manufacturing Chinese pancakes. Utilising his unparalleled understanding of the market for Chinese pancakes, he leads Ming Foods' commitment to continuous product development and customer satisfaction. The Checkweigher, which has integral weigh and out-feed conveyors, is used to weigh packs of pancakes. The unit is capable of offering weighing speeds in excess of 200 items per minute with the utmost precision, and the weigher is fitted with a high speed air blow reject system and reject bin. Although the main role of the Checkweigher is to ensure Ming Foods supply the correct amount of their wafer thin products per pack it also guarantees compliance with average weight legislation. The Vantage technology brings unrivalled levels of data capture, reporting and analysis to their factory floor. The units collect critical data on average and minimum weight, together with comprehensive SPC information including throughput by product, batch and date. Reports are sent back to a central PC via a LAN enabled interface, thereby ensuring optimum data security and location versatility. This transfer is done automatically and Stevens claim that as a key feature of their design. Sam Duong, Director of Ming Foods, explains his reasons for choosing Stevens: "Stevens are a flexible, forward thinking company who listen and take the time to learn about their customer's needs before making a recommendation, an attitude which mirrors our own. The checkweigher is not just a standard unit forced into our line, it was built to our specific requirements." The machine set up can be done locally via the user friendly Vantage touch screen console or from the central SQL Management Reporting PC. The minimalist stainless steel design facilitates cleaning and the conveyors can run independently of the PC for maintenance purposes. With space at a premium, Stevens designed the unit to the exact specification of the line with a total length of just 600mm. Even the motorised conveyor belts have maximum uptime in mind, featuring the unique 60 second belt change mechanism to keep line stoppages to a minimum. Stevens' Commercial Manager Stuart Hunt is very positive about the benefits of their in-line check-weighing systems: "Although we have extensive experience in a broad range of weighing equipment and systems, we are relative new comers to the dynamic weighing market and our first In-Line Checkweigher was only developed approximately six years ago. The catalyst for this investment was the somewhat negative feedback we were receiving from an increasing number of customers, highlighting the fact that they were dissatisfied with the service and support being provided by traditional In-Line Checkweigher companies. We have a team of over 35 well-established field service engineers and this support network across the UK, together with the robust and versatile features of our machines, ensures that our customers no longer have an unacceptable weak link in their weighing process." The Stevens Group Tel: 01254 685200