Think for a moment that you’re a consumer as opposed to a producer. After all, everyone is a consumer of goods at some point since they need to purchase food and other necessities to live. Those who have to buy things will want to check and make sure they’re getting the right amount of product for their money.
When you’re at the store, you are more than likely to check the packaging for the amount of goods that are in the box. Even products like breakfast cereal are usually measured by weight as opposed to volume. What would you do if you found that the amount of product in the package wasn’t what was on the label? You’d probably be pretty upset.
As a result, you’ll want to make sure that you’re only using the most sophisticated digital bench scales in your own organization so that your own brand name doesn’t get tarnished by this kind of behavior. By making sure that each package contains just the right amount of product, you’re helping to ensure that your own consumers get what they paid for and learn that your organization is trustworthy.
Perhaps just as importantly, using a scale from Arlyn is an excellent way to ensure that your organization is going to be able to meet certain reporting guidelines and adhere to food service regulations. If you’re not putting the correct amount of product into a package or you’re mistaking the amount of ingredients that are supposed to go into a recipe, then there’s a strong risk that you could run afoul of certain governmental regulations.
A simple digital bench scale might be all you need to prevent this kind of problem from ever occurring.
Finding Industrial Scales that Meet the Foodservice Industry’s Particular Needs
Many production lines use industrial bench scales for many different kinds of functions. They are used throughout the food industry for portion control. As a variety of pre-packaged meals are assembled, the scale can provide information to the worker that allows the correct amount of each course to be properly arranged. Packages being prepared for freezing or refrigeration must be weighed for accuracy. If too much product is filled, it could impact the profitability for the company.
It is critical that enough products be packaged to meet labeling requirements. A bench-scale is also an ideal method to check weigh a finished package. In situations where a number of items are supposed to be inside the package, the scale can clearly determine if either an extra part has been packed, or if anything has been missed. If the scale is equipped with the correct interfaces, it can send acceptance or failure signals to actuators to allow the package to continue to its destination, or to be flagged for inspection. The formulation may be performed accurately and easily with a digital bench scale. When there are a number of ingredients, they are dispensed sequentially onto the scale platform. This may be done manually by an operator, or automatically. Ideally, the scale can retain a large number of different recipes in memory. As the correct recipe is retrieved, the scale can set its output signals to control feeder devices or valves for dispense. Electronic scales that are used for these purposes should have features that allow them to work reliably in these types of environments.
The most common cause of scale failure is the failure of the load cell. Usually, this occurs if something is dropped on the scale, or it loads that exceed the scale capacity are placed on the platform. Another common cause of load cell failure is if the scale itself is dropped. The most popular material used for building load cells for bench scales is aluminum. Unfortunately, this material is quite prone to this type of failure. If the load on the aluminum load sensor exceeds its rating, it can cause elastic deformation of the material. Once this occurs, it is usually impossible to repair it, and the entire sensor would need to be replaced. Some manufacturers use plated steel load sensors instead of aluminum. While this is an improvement, it is still not ideal. The best solution is to use stainless steel for fabricating the load sensor. While it is more expensive and harder to machine, it delivers superior performance. Some of the best industrial bench scales, including the Arlyn Scales models, use this material as a standard. Some added benefits of the stainless sensor include much better water resistance.
The Arlyn bench scales provide an additional silicone coating on the load sensor for even better performance in a wet environment. The scale will also be more successful in operating in areas where there are harsh chemicals. The stronger stainless steel sensors also allow the scale platform to be larger, and to have a lower height, making it easier for an operator to place heavy loads onto the scale platform without too much lifting. The digital display is another important scale feature. Ideally, the numbers should use a graphics format, allowing them to be big and bold, and easy to read from a distance. A graphic screen also allows for a friendly user interface, that can provide messages and instructions to the user.
While advanced features are useful if a user has difficulty understanding the scale operation those features will become a liability. The speed of operation is yet another important specification. Some bench scales may require too much time until the updated weight appears on the screen. Again, stainless steel load sensors provide the added benefit of being made from stronger material. If properly designed, they will provide additional stiffness, and the displayed weight will stabilize more quickly. A wide variety of communication connections will allow the industrial bench scale to communicate with different types of equipment. Some popular digital interfaces include USB, Ethernet, WiFi, RS-232 and RS-485. Some process equipment is still looking for the analog 4 Ð 20 ma output signal. Again, the Arlyn Scales bench scales provide a choice of any of these output standards.
Companies with particular technical needs might also want to consider the UpScale indicator, which makes logging chores and other tasks quite a bit simpler than they might otherwise be. You could export all of your weighing information to a spreadsheet document with this kind of an indicator, which makes spotting inconsistencies and logging times a breeze.
This is especially good news for those who are working on automating certain workflows and need to make sure that they’re still putting out food products with the same level of quality that people would have otherwise expected out of your organization before you get ready to automate your processes.
All you’ll need to do is find the digital bench scale that works best for your needs. Luckily enough at Arlyn Scales we have a wide variety of scales to choose from so that you can pick the one that best suits you and your needs.
Digital Bench Scales for Food Service Providers
Take a few moments to jot down a list of requirements that your organization has whenever you’re shopping for scales. You might want to keep some of the features that your current scale has. Alternatively, you might have run into some challenges with it that might have made it a little difficult to work with at times. Regardless of which of these you have, you’ll want to contact Arlyn Scales today and tell us all about any issues you might be concerned about.
Our experienced team of experts will be sure to help you get the best kind of equipment for you.
