Recipe per batch
Plukon Visbek has two I-Cut 122 TrimSort portion cutters in operation, to portion fillets to pre-programmed weights. First, the laser scanner scans the incoming products and calculates their weights. "On the portioner's touchscreen we enter a recipe for the upcoming batch, and the cutting actions of the I-Cut follow that program," explains Norbert Toben.
After being cut, the fillets stay on the upper belts of the dual-lane I-Cut 122 TrimSort and are conveyed to downstream processing.
Valuable off-cuts
The off-cuts are separated to land on the internal lower belt. These valuable products are conveyed to different processes, depending on what kind of end product is needed. Particularly the accurate and fast sorting process of the two product flows makes the I-Cut 122 TrimSort a very cost-effective addition to the line for Plukon Visbek. Instead of manually sorting out off-cuts, the I-Cut takes over this job and further reduces giveaway with no need for human intervention.
Standalone but connected
Plukon Visbek uses I-Cut's own standalone software, running the programs directly on the HMI display.
However, both I-Cuts are connected to the internet so that Marel can access them for service. "Quite honestly, we have almost no issues with the I-Cuts. The portioners run very well and need very low maintenance. Of course, they sometimes need service, but that is very manageable," states Norbert Toben.
Elsewhere in the factory, Plukon makes use of further Marel systems, such as a SensorX X-ray system for bone inspection, SmartLine Graders and a SmartSplitter.