Mettler Toledo, suppliers of safety and compliance systems for food and beverage processing, has supplied Italian pasta and bakery producer Barilla with a dosing, sanitising and weighing system for one of its primary production facilities.
The Barilla name is closely linked tothe typical Italian first course ofpasta, but as a matter of fact itsproduct range is much wider andincludes among others baked products,which play a primary role.
The group philosophy is largelyfocused on consumer health andrequires therefore that products begood, healthy and balanced, as well asensuring the product taste quality.On the line manufacturing bread, biscuitsand cakes the basic component dosingsystem is equipped with a Mettler ToledoDUCS600s stainless steel platform,placed under the componentloading silos.
The dosed components and the recipes are stored in the centralunit of a Siemens S7 PLC, controllingthe dosing functions and the tank washingoperations. The high accuracyrequired by dosing and the high speedof washing cycles have required anapplication software specifically designedfor this plant by the MettlerToledo partner, Spin S.r.l., a "systemintegrator".
The Programmable Controller (PLC)sends the "open/close commands" forthe exact management of quantitativedoses to the component loading units,placed over the mixing tank. The built-inMettler Toledo ID7 terminal,records the weight and transmits all relevantvalues to the PLC.
During the dosing step eggs are alternativelycollected from one of the two storingtanks. While one of the tanks performsdosing the other activates a sanitisingwashing cycle, which accords withHACCP rules.
The system allows for a number of cycles. These include a complete washing and soda step cycle, an egg re-circulation cycle and an egg dosing cycle.
Besides the ID7 terminal, used for high accuracyweight control, a displayand keypad have been installed. Thekeypad is designed to enable the operator to configureany washing and dosing cycle(weight, time, pauses, with/withoutsanitisation, etc) as well as to select thenumber of the recipe to be run.
The company says that the transfer of weighing values betweenthe Mettler Toledo device and thePLC occurs through the serial interfaceRS232.
In order to ensure a good dosing accuracyand the correct water capacity duringwashing, it has been chosen to usetwo-speed pumps with the applicationof two 1,5 KW inverters. The water tankis controlled on a two-level basis alsomanaged by the system.
Mettler Toledo claims that the perfect mix among the weighing,automation and integrated systems hasoptimised and accelerated the manufacturingprocess, a significant achievement consideringthe various problems involved inthis type of production.