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In the competitive pasta industry, Ishida helps Chiron - Moulins de Savoie stay ahead

27/11/2001

Chiron - Moulins de Savoie has been milling grain since 1844, and Durum wheat since 1892. (Only this variety of wheat results in pasta which can hold its special shape despite being immersed in boiling water.)

The company is involved throughout the supply chain. It maintains strong links with chosen farmers and co-operatives in the Greater Provence area (stretching from Toulouse to St-Etienne) and can call upon almost any variety of Durum wheat, produced under almost any specified cultivation regime, including insecticide-free and Integrated Agriculture.

Chiron - Moulins de Savoie produces 35,000 tonnes per year of pasta, couscous and semolina in about 200 different varieties, much of it under its own brand name of Croix de Savoie. Most are packaged in 500g bags using Ishida multihead weighers over vertical bagmakers. In a separate part of the factory, petfoods containing pasta and other ingredients are also prepared.

Special adaptations for pasta weighing

All the Ishida multihead weighing machines at Chiron – Moulins de Savoie have certain features in common which take into account the fragility of pasta and the noise which it can generate during handling.

These features include a specially angled dispersion table with bancollan liners, and anti-bounce radial feeder troughs. A bancollan pole suspended in the exit chute of the weighing machine slows the product and minimises product-product collisions. The drop into the pack is interrupted by a timing hopper, which also helps to compact each weighment prior to bagging.

Mr Bernard Desestret, the Technical Director, believes that pasta is a range of products with special needs. From the beginning, Ishida has shown a real interest, conducting extensive tests on his products before finalising a specification with him. "Of all the multihead weigher manufacturers,” says Mr Desestret, “Ishida are the ones who go to the greatest lengths to develop specialised weighing machines to meet specific needs".

Another important product of Chiron - Moulins de Savoie is couscous, the grains of which behave almost like a liquid. The latest of the company’s seven Ishida weighing machines is a 14-head NZ model, with special anti-leak hoppers which can easily cope with this small-grained product as well as with short cut pasta.

Speed and accuracy

The speed of the Ishida weighing machines has greatly improved product throughput. For example, 3kg petfood bags are now being packed at nearly three times the previous rate. In fact all the Ishida mutlihead weighers are more than able to keep their bagmakers supplied to full capacity. The Ishida weighing machines also deliver the high accuracy, and resulting tight control of giveaway that such a competitive industry demands.

Reliability leads to low maintenance and downtime

Something that has strongly impressed Mr Desestret over the years is the reliability of the multihead weighers. “One of the great strengths of the Ishida weighing machines,” he says, “is their ability to go on working, shift after shift, year after year. The cost of breakdowns has been practically zero. On the few occasions when we have needed help, Ishida and their French agent, Beaurain Frères, have been able to provide it rapidly and efficiently.

Low overall cost of ownership

In every case the efficiency of the Ishida weighing machines has delivered payback within two years, Chiron - Moulins de Savoie’s specified period. Added to the low cost of maintenance, this makes the Ishida weighers very economical to own. An additional factor here is the operator interface, which is simple both in training and in use. “The Ishida software is significantly easier to use than that of competitive weighing machines”, says Mr Desestret.

The link between health and hygiene

A commitment to health is vital throughout the food industry these days. However the pasta industry is keener than most to promote a link with healthy lifestyles, because of the sales opportunities amongst people who take vigorous exercise. Pasta is seen by many of these as the perfect energy food.

The fact that the Chiron - Moulins de Savoie product is handled using weighing machines which are exceptionally easy to keep clean, as the Ishida multihead weighers are, is seen as a positive factor in building this image.