The firm sells crisps, including the flavours Sea Salt, Mature Cheddar, Onion, Haggis and Cracked Black Pepper and Scotch Bonnet Chilli Pepper, in Canada, France, and Singapore and recently expanded into China, which led to the move.
Adding another production line
The company already had two iTPS Ishida systems which were relocated from the previous factory and plans to add another production line.
“We have around 75 SKUs and 30 different flavours so we need to be able to respond quickly and handle different requirements at the same time,” said George Taylor, CEO, Mackie’s.
“We are looking to add another production line within the next two years.”
Mackie’s packs 150g, 40g and 30g packs, with the iTPS handling 40g bags at up to 110 bpm (bags per minute) and 150g bags at up to 70 bpm. It can deliver 750kg of crisps an hour.
The three iTPS are situated at the end of the production line, each one linked to an individual flavouring station supplied by Heat & Control.
Three crisp varieties simultaneously
Staff can weigh and pack up to three different crisp varieties simultaneously, to respond to customer orders and maintain production while one machine undergoes a product changeover.
Mackie’s Crisps began manufacturing in 2009 as a joint venture between Perthshire potato farmers, the Taylor family, and Mackie’s of Scotland, known for its ice cream.
The Ishida iTPS comprises an Ishida 14 head multihead weigher and Atlas bagmaker along with a throat metal detector and thermal transfer coder, monitored via an Remote Control Unit (RCU).
The Atlas bagmaker has double rotary jaws for fast speeds with film registration and tight bag seals to minimise raw material waste, film loss and downtime for film changes.
A sealing unit creates tight seals without wrinkles during packing. Pressure, temperature and sealing time are set on the RCU to match the production speed and film characteristics.
Reduces changeover times by 10%
The Atlas’s product charge control strips any remaining product from the seal area and stops it from being blown upward, while an auto film splice reduces product changeover times by up to 10%
“We had used Ishida weighers as part of our potato packing business so we knew about the quality of the equipment,” added Taylor.
“The iTPS gives us an integrated weighing and bagging machine specifically developed for our type of operation.”