New ZQ375 Light Stack Available from Avery Weigh-Tronix

Avery Weigh-Tronix checkweighers feature stainless steel enclosures and are sealed up to IP69K, for washdown situations. These checkweighers are ideally suited for food and beverage applications, as well as pharmaceuticals, transportation and many others. With easy to use operator interfaces, users can clearly see the target level, speeding up operation without jeopardizing accuracy. These checkweighers offer multi-connectivity and can be can connected with existing data systems for automatic reporting.

Great News! Fully wash down compact light stack options ideal for the ZQ375 Checkweigher are now available!

That’s 3 extra light stack options that could be easily used on the current Avery Weigh-Tronix ZQ375 Checkweigher.

These new light stacks offer a more cost effective solution that can easy be installed to any new or existing ZM or ZQ375 Checkweigher indicator or indicator and base combination with no extra fabrication modifications required.

weigh-tronix checkweigh scale light stack

This new compact light stack easily mounts directly to the side of the indicator using the same side stud as uses to clamp the indicator to the column or stand with no extra fixings required. Ideal when the ZQ375 indicator needs to be mounted away from the weight platform.

These IP67 light stacks are available in 3 versions all with audible alarms
3 lights (red / green / yellow)
2 lights (red / Green)
1 light (red)

Avery Weigh-Tronix part numbers
AWT05-508943   IP67 side mounted compact (Red, Green, Yellow) light stack + audible alarm
AWT05-508944   IP67 side mounted compact (Red, Yellow) light stack + audible alarm
AWT05-508945   IP67 side mounted compact (Red) light stack + audible alarm

The Avery Weigh-Tronix ZQ375 series checkweighers are ideal heavy-washdown scales built to meet stringent food hygiene requirements. Certified by NSF to NSF/ANSI Standard 3-A, the ZQ375 Checkweigher has been specifically designed to meet the stringent hygiene requirements of the food processing industry. IP69K rated for heavy washdown environments.

The ZQ375 checkweigher features a highly visible, low power draw IBN display, which offers ease of viewing in all lighting conditions. Its large, nine segment digits and coloured multi-segmented under/overweight graph give the operator a fast visual indication of weight which is user friendly, yet highly accurate.

Plus with the optional light stack, scale operators can easily see when items are under weight, over weight or within tolerance.

This checkweigher is legal for trade, making it suitable for use in commercial applications where product is sold by weight. It is available in a range of sizes and capacities from 6lb to 500lbs (3kg to 200kg).

The ZQ375 Checkweigher provides you with the information you need through Wireless, USB or Ethernet to maximize performance and profitability.

Contact the sales team today at (919) 776-7737 or complete our online Request a Quote.

Cardinal Scale’s Digital Fill Control Improves Efficiency for Cherry Packing

In preparation for the busy summer harvest season, fruit distributors find tremendous value in equipment improvements and workflow efficiency.

Recently, an authorized Cardinal Scale dealer outfitted a cherry packing shed in California with an upgraded packing system. This operation utilizes a conveyor belt system to transport sorted cherries to be packaged using Cardinal Scale static scales and weight indicators.

fruit packing scales

The initial weigh-in is performed on 14 conveyor lines using Cardinal Scale’s EB-150-LPAN bench scales and 225 Navigator weight indicators. The customer uses Cardinal Scale’s digital fill control software that comes standard on the 225 indicator and an RB4 relay to control the speed of the conveyor belt filling the cherry packages. When an appropriate weight has been reached, the indicator stops the belt and the container is sent down conveyor rollers to the next work station. The operator is not required to press any keys to continue filling the next container.

The filled cherry container then goes down the conveyor line to the checkweigher, comprised of a Cardinal Scale EB-150-LPAN bench scale with 190 Storm wash down indicator. This station utilizes the ColorZONE feature on the 190 indicator to rapidly indicate over, under, or desirable weight. The 190’s ColorZONE feature overcomes any language barrier that might be an obstacle with reading the indicator. The container is brought to the appropriate weight by manually adding cherries and then sent to final packaging.

The Cardinal Scale system has improved the operation by automating the initial packing process with fill control software.

The cherry packing process has become more productive and the packing shed is ready for the summer produce season. You can read the entire case study here.

If this sounds like something you would be interested in for your business, then give us a call at (919) 776-7737 or fill out our Request for Quote link on our website, centralcarolinascale.com — we are an authorized Cardinal Scale dealer and would be happy to provide you with the right equipment for your weighing needs.

Weighing Solutions for New SOLAS Requirements

Starting July 1, 2016 the SOLAS (Safety of Life at Sea) Treaty will require all ISO containers to have a verifiable gross mass entered into the ship’s manifest prior to loading. This international treaty amendment comes in the wake of several at-sea disasters resulting from overweight and improperly balanced containers; impacting the loading of all containers at all ports world-wide, container shippers are ultimately responsible for verifying and providing the gross mass number.

We have a wide variety of scale equipment from Rice Lake Weighing Systems to help you with compliance, offering several turnkey solutions that are straightforward and worry-free. The industry preferred and recommended method for verifying ISO containers mass is to weigh the entire container, once sealed, to provide a total verified mass, with the added benefit of relevant center of gravity and container balance data. Rice Lake offers several products that make this possible, including:

  • Twist lock sensors for crane spreaders and mobile equipment attachments
  • Load pin and load sensor solutions integrated into overhead cranes
  • Below-the-hook crane scale and tension link solutions
  • Forklift scales
  • Truck scales and rail scales
  • And much more

These products can integrate into existing port handling equipment and management systems, providing minimum interruption to operations and seamless merging of data.

Starting July 1, 2016, unverified containers cannot be legally loaded. Failure to comply will result in fines and penalties throughout the logistics chain as well as costly delays and interruptions. Don’t let this happen to you – contact us today to discuss options to ensure compliance with this new treaty amendment.

Solid State Relay Versus Mechanical Relay

The argument about which is better, solid-state relays (SSRs) or electromechanical relays (EMRs), has raged on for many years. The answer is actually neither, as each relay type has positive and negative aspects. But if you factor in specific application requirements, clear winners emerge.

Actually, SSRs aren’t relays at all, but rather electronic circuits. The control inputs are connected internally to an LED, which shines across an air gap to light sensors. The light sensor is connected to the transistors which open or close, supplying the relay’s load with power. When a transistor is closed, current can flow freely through the relay, causing the load and power supply to be connected. When a transistor is open, almost all current is blocked, causing the load to become disconnected from the power supply. The pairing of an LED with light sensors is called an opto-coupler, and is a common technique to link two parts of a circuit without a direct electrical connection.

Mechanical relays use an electromagnetic coil to open or close the circuit. When current runs through the input and energizes the coil, it creates a small magnetic field which either pulls the arm of the switch away from the other contact of the switch, or pushes it down to close the switch depending on the how the switch is made. A relay also serves as an isolator, because the control (input) and load (output) ends of the relay are not electrically connected. This allows you to protect the device you’re using to control the relay from power surges in your application.

doran 2200 digital weight indicator with relays

Ok then, when should you use each type?

Whether to use an EMR or SSR depends on a number of factors such as the application’s environment, electrical requirements, and cost or budget.

Use SSR for:
• Applications requiring high speed and frequent switching operations.
• Applications in high vibration environments.
• Application where the relay has to be located near sensitive automation components, such as PLC’s, HMIs, and temperature controllers.
• Applications in dusty or humid environments.
• Applications in hazardous locations (presence of fumes or gases)

Use EMR for:
• Applications requiring a wide output range from the relay.
• Applications using motors & transformers requiring high starting amps.
• Applications where the initial installation budget is very limited.
• Applications prone to current surges and voltage spikes.

EMR or SSR… we have choices for you. Our Doran Scale lineup of products offers both types of relays in the Internal Relay option (Part# EXOPT106) and the External Relay Option (Part# EXOPT107).

Detecto Enterprise APS Food Scale Video Demo

DETECTO made in the USA Enterprise® APS series digital scales are ideal for precise portion control weighing in pizza kitchens, delis, and bakeries. The scale’s vivid, bright-green backlit LCD provides clear visibility for ingredient weights in any lighting condition. The APS series comes in 6 different capacities with 4 different platform sizes. For this video, you’ll be watching the model APS160 which weighs completely in ounces: 160 oz capacity by 0.1 oz accuracy.

The APS series can be equipped with an optional piezo tare button to expedite production in busy food prep settings. Both the LCD display and the piezo tare button can be remotely mounted on the wall, countertop, or even the side of the countertop to facilitate an orderly work environment. DETECTO’s piezo tare button is stainless steel and virtually indestructible, so it will stand up to rugged treatment in any busy commercial kitchen. This handy tare button allows the weight of various ingredients to be quickly tared off while building finished products such as pizzas or sandwiches.

By incorporating the optional tare button with the APS series, you now have the SPEED and ACCURACY needed for faster and more precise food preparation. This provides a more consistent, quality output for the customer… and tighter quality control without waste for the business owner. DETECTO’s tare button utilizes piezo touch technology which features no moving parts and is the toughest quality possible. The button registers when pressed to tare the weight off the scale and return it to zero. An audible beep will sound to alert employees that the ingredients have been tared from the scale and to notify them that the scale is ready for the next step in the food prep process. The large button size, sturdy design, and discernible beep of the piezo tare button are crucial features for any fast-paced food production workflow. Due to the rising cost of ingredients, especially meats like pepperoni, these features are instrumental in minimizing production costs.

Simply add your ingredients, check to ensure the proper amount of ingredients have been added, subtract or add additional ingredients to achieve the desired target weight for each stage, and press the piezo tare button to set the scale back to zero. Continue building each stage of the pizza to reach your target weights and precisely measuring your portions every step along the way. Then, when you’re finished, remove the pizza and you’ll see the total product weight on the LCD. The tare button on DETECTO’s APS series provides a fast, efficient workflow to your kitchen! This method delivers a consistent, precise finished product every time. For more information please call 919-776-7737 or visit us online at centralcarolinascale.com

Avery Weigh-Tronix ZQ375 Scale Helps Doughnut Shop Meet Quality & Hygiene Standards

Well, you had to know if any of our scale suppliers that we represent provided us a story about Krispy Kreme, we would be all over it.  Well, recently the ZQ375 Checkweigher from Avery Weigh-Tronix provided some great benefits to the Krispy Kreme company and helped the company to meet quality and hygiene standards. Below is a case study to further discuss the scale and its benefits. Krispy Kreme is relying on Avery Weigh-Tronix’s new ZQ375 checkweigher to help maintain its daily doughnut production for the North East of England.

Krispy Kreme’s well-known doughnut shops can be found in over 730 locations in 21 countries around the world. Its new Newcastle (UK) Hotlight store produces 16 different varieties of doughnuts for its own on site retail store, its other regional outlets and retailers such as Tesco. The company has just installed a 6 kg and a 45kg ZQ375 checkweigher at its Newcastle store to weigh its ingredients prior to baking. Empty containers are placed on the scales and then filled with the ingredients for the batter or the fillings.

Krispy Kreme prides itself on providing fresh doughnuts daily, so the equipment must be reliable, robust and easy to clean. Of particular importance is the scale’s IP69k rated enclosure, which allows the check weighing scales to be thoroughly cleaned without fear of water or particle ingress. It has a smooth, polished surface finish, curved corners and an easy to remove cover. The design minimizes the growth of micro-organisms on the scale and limits food trap areas where bacteria can thrive.

Says Ollie Kane, service manager for Krispy Kreme: “As a business it’s important that we get the ingredient mix correct to ensure quality. The scales are constantly used as we produce fresh doughnuts daily for all of our outlets. Over the course of a week we will produce 1.3 million doughnuts nationally. “The new scales are robust, easy to clean and are also easy to use. The indicator is on top of a column on the scale at a convenient height for the operators and its display is very clear so that they can easily check that the weight of the ingredient is correct. “Aesthetically the scale is also very attractive, which is important because we sometimes open up the production area so that the public can see what is happening.”

This is another example of how food processing businesses are relying on the Avery Weigh-Tronix ZQ375 digital scales for accurate weighing. Your business would more than likely benefit from one of these check weighing scales as well. Contact the sales team at Central Carolina Scale for an analysis of what item(s) would work best for your application.

Check Weigh Scale Works Well for Warehouse Club

Of course nobody here is surprised to hear this but recently the warehouse club Costco used some Avery Weigh-Tronix ZQ375 checkweighers in the bakery. The results were impressive with great marks for wash down capability and weighing accuracy. Below is a case study provided by Avery Weigh-Tronix the maker of the ZQ375.

Costco, the national Cash & Carry Membership Warehouse Club that produces and stocks a wide range of food products, has upgraded its scales to Avery Weigh Tronix’s new ZQ375 Checkweigher to achieve more accurate weighing for its bakery and confectionary ingredients. Costco has installed six ZQ375-30kg units at each of its newest warehouses at Leicester, Southampton and Farnborough and one larger, floor standing 90kg capacity ZQ375 for bulk weighing in the Butchery Departments. The equipment must meet stringent hygiene standards and must also precisely weigh a wide range of ingredients, from custard to food dye, to ensure a high quality final product.

Says Wayne Parsons, Regional Bakery Manager for Costco: “At Costco we take a lot of pride in the fact that we freshly bake a lot of our products in the bakeries at our warehouses. To do this, it’s important that the scales we use are consistently accurate, convenient to use, and have an easy to read indicator. This allows our bakers to meet their daily quota of produce and deliver a high quality end product.”

“Another particularly useful feature of the ZQ375 Checkweigher is that it is capable of five gram divisions and a capacity of 30kg, whereas the old scales we used were only capable of divisions by ten grams. When we are dealing with ingredients such as food dye, this feature is particularly useful as it allows a much greater level of accuracy when dealing with smaller quantities.” The flat scale pan on the ZQ375 Checkweigher makes it easy to place different shaped products on the scales and still get an accurate weight. In the Costco warehouse bakeries where weighed ingredients come in a range of different shapes and sizes, this ensures production remains efficient. Parsons concludes, “As a business, our bottom line is affected by whether or not we can deliver the high quality food products that our customers expect. Investing in this type of equipment helps us to achieve that.”

Featuring food-grade, fully stainless steel construction, the ZQ375 Checkweigher is a highly efficient solution for the food industry and beyond. From complete visibility of weighing data and statistics to fast, effective, simple checkweighing, the ZQ375 Checkweigher can help you to maximize performance and profitability while meeting strict legislative requirements. The ZQ375 is available from Central Carolina Scale located in Sanford, NC.

“Fangtastic” Halloween Offer on ZQ375 Checkweigher

This Halloween, Avery Weigh-Tronix and Central Carolina Scale are offering you a frighteningly good deal on the Avery Weigh-Tronix ZQ375 over/under checkweigher scale! Get $500 off the Manufacturers Suggested List Price when you trade in any old check weigher!

So, how do you get the $500 trade in discount? To get your hands on this spooktacular deal, place your order with us for selected ZQ375 checkweigher scales and send us the old trade-in checkweigher(s) when you make the purchase. The old trade in checkweigher scale must clearly show the make, model and serial number in order to qualify.

avery weigh-tronix scales

Which models are included in the promo?
•5lb 8” x 8” IP69K ZQ375 (AWT05-800016)
•50lb 12” x 14” IP69K ZQ375 (AWT05-800021)

This offer can be applied to multiple units, if a trade-in scale is supplied for each unit ordered. Offer applies to all orders placed between October 22 and November 26, 2014. All orders must be shipped by end Dec 2014 to be included in this promotion. The trade in must take place at the time of the original transaction. Rules and what items qualify as “trade in” are at the discretion(s) of Central Carolina Scale and Avery Weigh-Tronix. For details and product information, please call the sales department at Central Carolina Scale at (919) 776-7737

FC6300 Formula Control Scale Video Overview

What would it be like to be in total control? Imagine saving at least 2.1% of your yearly ingredient costs. What would that be worth to you? Picture having an extra supervisor watching over your employees’ shoulders monitoring and controlling the formulation process. What effect would that have on your product consistency and production efficiency? Well actually the Doran FC6300 Formula Control System puts you in total control and can pay for itself in four months or less!

Field-Proven Ingredient Savings
In today’s competitive marketplace, reducing production costs is a sure path to greater profits. Doran’s Formula Control has been guiding production plants along that path with ingredient savings of at least 2.1%—even more. Combine lower ingredient costs with the elimination of the money wasted on bad batches, and you can understand why successful companies are investing in the FC6300 Formula Control System.

Take a look at the savings one company experienced with the FC6300. This plant realized that improving the performance of their formula scaling could lead to a significant impact on profitability. Additionally they were averaging one bad batch a week due to errors that were traced back to the scaling process. They turned to Doran Scales to reduce costs from wasted ingredients and bad batches—the solution was the FC6300 Formula Control System. Return on investment due to ingredient cost savings was achieved in just four months, and the net one-year effect on profit margin was $27,068.71. It’s no wonder that plant managers at this company’s other location suddenly became interested in the FC6300 Formula Control System.

Consistent Batches—Guaranteed!
Reduction of ingredient costs is easy to see, but the costs associated with bad batches are often overlooked. Like a dripping faucet, those bad batches can gradually drain your plant’s profits. Production downtime to clean production lines and discard the bad batch, along with cost of wasted ingredients, can add up. Our field studies show that bad batches cost a company $837 per incident. With guaranteed consistent batches, your plant will run more efficiently, adding to your profitably.

Because the system prompts the user through the formula, the correct ingredients are accurately scaled every time. Each ingredient of the formula is weighed within a tolerance that you define. The color-coded Accu-Track display on the bright LCD screen ensures that added ingredients are within those tolerances. Each step of the formula is clearly labeled with batch ID, batch name, the step number, ingredient name, target weight, and actual weight. Accurate scaling can be achieved with or without experienced production employees.

Ensures Employee Accountability
Formula Loader is a standard component of the FC6300 Formula Control system. This Windows™-compatible software is used to configure formulas as well as to provide production reports. Standard Formula Loader reports can be used to evaluate scale operator efficiency and ingredient usage. Using scale operator ID’s, the FC6300 tracks when a user logs in and out of the scale. Management can easily determine how long the scale operators are taking to prepare each formula and how accurately it was done. It’s like having the plant manager watching over your employees’ shoulders 24/7.

For more information on this exciting product from Doran, please fill out our request form on the website with your particular requirements and specifications.

Common Applications for Peak Hold Feature In Digital Scales

In today’s entry we would like to discuss the peak hold function. It’s a popular topic since we are usually asked about this capability at least every week or so. In these examples we will focus primarily on the Doran Scale product line. The Excel Series 2200, 2200CW, 4300, 7000XL, 7400, and 8000XL scales from Doran represent a scale line that you can rely on to fill a wide variety of weighing applications. From a battery powered 2200CW checkweigh scale for a food manufacturer, to an 8000XL series scale with a wireless Ethernet option for a seafood company, the flexibility of the Excel Series scales can help you achieve accurate results time after time. The Peak Hold feature is another example of how the Excel Series from Doran provides value added weighing solutions.

Doran 2200CW stainless steel checkweigher

Customers Using Peak Hold 
Many industries use Peak Hold in their quality control process. Peak Hold is when weight or force is applied to determine the highest amount of force a product can withstand. Maintaining a consistent specification in production results in cost savings, increased safety, and minimizes exposure to product liability litigation. Peak Hold allows for maximum sensitivity and accurate weight or force readings too quick for the eye to see and because it is digitally held, a displayed peak value will not decay or drift. Continue reading