The X33 X-ray Inspection System inspects up to 80 net bags per minute

UK Chocolate Manufacturer secures a successful future withMETTLER TOLEDO Product Inspection Technology. Established in 1978, Kinnerton is the UK’s largest independent manufacturer of chocolate and novelty confectionery. The company specialises in character licensing, producing private-label and bespoke confectionery for many of the world’s best-known retailers. To stay ahead of today’s highly-competitive and increasingly-global marketplace, Kinnerton recently invested in METTLER TOLEDO Metal Detection and X-ray Inspection equipment. This wise investment will ensure that Kinnerton meets the latest supermarket codes of practice and will do much to help the company maintain its market primacy for many years to come.

Kinnerton ConfectioneryConfectionery Inspection

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Named after Kinnerton Street, the street in which the company’s original founder, Clive Beecham, lived, Kinnerton was the first UK company in its product sector to base confectionery offerings around the idea of character merchandising - and from its very inception, it gained important listings with many of the UK’s foremost grocery and high street retailers. Over the years, the concept proved extremely lucrative, and Kinnerton remains the market leader in character products created around chocolate confectionery.

Two Major Operational Centres “Today Kinnerton, which is part of Zertus UK employs around 1000 people and operates across three manufacturing sites - Fakenham and South Creake in Norfolk, and Sherburn in Elmet in Leeds. Within a typical week, the Sherburn in Elmet plant produces around 70 tonnes of product, which equates to around 3,500 tonnes a year. The factory is split into two divisions - a retail-facing arm that deals with all the major retailers, and a bulk division that deals with supplying bulk products/samples to bakeries and other confectionery companies.

In 2010, Kinnerton underwent a major extension to support the growth in business, and its Sherburn in Elmet factory virtually quadrupled in size. The plant now measures some 60,000 sq.ft and is rated Grade A by the British Retail Consortium. In line with this, the company’s strategy has also changed.

Conversion to Year-round Business“We wanted to convert Kinnerton from a seasonal business into an all-year-round operation,” explains Technical Manager Nick Raby, “and to be able to do that, we realised that we needed to comply with all major retailers’ latest codes of practice.

Consequently, there was a conscious change by the directors to build a management team that could facilitate that shift. People with the necessary experience and knowledge were brought in and, over the past two years, the site has undergone a massive transition from an entrepreneurial-type spirit to a more systems-oriented business that meets the needs of todays retail market.”

Future-proofing OperationsKinnerton has an extremely low metal contamination complaints record* and already has several metal detectors factored into its production lines; however, part of the transition involved Kinnerton investing in new product inspection equipment - as Site Engineering Manager Mike Gee explains: “Our decision to invest in product inspection equipment wasn’t driven by a desire to resolve a contamination issue - because we simply didn’t have one!

We wanted to have robust contamination detection systems in place which were capable of handling our current range of packaging, as well as coping with new and complex packaging formats in the future. This will ensure that we continue to comply with the latest supermarket codes of practice – so the decision was driven by a desire to future-proof the site, as well as reduce our extremely low complaints record to zero.”

Anticipating Future Packaging ChallengesThe confectionery manufacturer was also in the process of launching a new range of products, one of which consisted of a net containing foil-covered chocolate balls.

“We knew there was no other way we were going to detect contaminants in a net of foil-covered chocolate balls other than via x-ray inspection,” explains technical manager Nick Raby.

“However, rather than simply buying an x-ray system for that particular line, we considered what

T Series Metal Detectors are suitable for vertical packaging applications.Food

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also benefit from a slight saving in waste, since we’re able to re-use the test packs on a throat metal detector – which you can’t do with a standard metal detector.”

Foil Wrapping is no Barrier to X-ray InspectionMETTLER TOLEDO’s X33 incorporates new detector technology five times more sensitive than detectors used in traditional x-ray systems, so the power needed to operate the system is five times less. This makes the X33 ideal for inspecting small and medium-sized packaged products.

“When I first looked into x-ray systems some time ago, they were big and bulky - but designs have moved on a lot since then,” explains Mike Gee.

“It’s obvious that METTLER TOLEDO has put a great deal of investment into developing their x-ray solutions - you can see it simply from the compact size of their machines.”

Impressive METTLER TOLEDO Inspection Rates “After spending a day trialling our new foil-wrapped chocolate balls, we were impressed with the X33’s ability to inspect between 30 and 80 net bags per minute, while maintaining detection sensitivity and a low level of false rejects,” says Nick Raby.

“So we chose METTLER TOLEDO’s T Series Metal Detectors for each of our bagging lines, because they had the smallest insertion size in the industry.“

The T Series detectors can be installed in small spaces available between the multi-head weigher discharge chute and the tube of the VFFS bag maker. This is achieved without compromising sensitivity performance. The reduced drop heights minimises the risk of product damage.

Improvement Over Standard Metal DetectorsPrior to the insertion of METTLER TOLEDO equipment into the production line, the company would launch a product and then spend several weeks moving metal detectors about or hiring equipment to try and find a way of inspecting it.

Now though, says Mike Gee, “we’ve found a solution that will cope with whatever packaging format we desire - so we’ve essentially taken that packaging element out of the contaminant detection equation.

Whatever product we put through the throat metal detectors, we know that the detectors will be able to cope, which means we can pack to whichever format we require. We

kind of future packaging formats might evolve and what was the best system for coping with an increasingly wide range of formats. We also wanted to ensure that the equipment we purchased would give us the flexibility to pack any type of packaged products in the future.” After researching a wide range of systems, Kinnerton eventually decided to purchase four METTLER TOLEDO T Series ‘throat’ metal detectors, as well as an X33 x-ray system with an air-blast reject.

Quality Assured With T Series Metal DetectorsDesigned for use in vertical packaging applications,METTLER TOLEDO’s T Series Metal Detectors are capable of detecting all metal contaminants, including non-magnetic stainless steel within ‘in-flight‘ product, prior to insertion into sealed packs.

The METTLER TOLEDO metal detectors were installed on three bagging lines at Kinnerton’s Sherburn in Elmet plant, where they now inspect a wide range of chocolate-coated products. “Any new metal detector had to operate in such a way that that we could be sure of preserving the quality of our products,” says engineering manager Mike Gee.

Kinnerton purchased four T Series Metal Detectors and an X33 Series X-ray inspection system.

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“The X33 was installed at the end of an existing production line in 2014, and now works as a Critical Control Point (CCP), inspecting foil-wrapped chocolate balls in net bags ranging in size from 45 grams up to 180 grams.”

Both Mike Gee and Nick Raby were also delighted with the ease of the equipment’s installation - as Mike Gee testifies: “The throat metal detection systems went in well, and it probably took about four weeks for us to sign off the machines after they went into the lines.

This process involved two weeks of commissioning and two weeks of running the systems in tandem with our existing metal detectors, to ensure we had parity across the systems.”

Popular With Operators“The x-ray system took longer, “ says Nick Raby, “but mainly because it was a completely new piece of equipment and a completely different mind-set for the operatives, so more training was involved. We also moved our CCP point to the final point of packing, and had to make some additional changes to the netting line.”

Nick Raby was also pleased with how operatives engaged with the new systems: “ Operator feedback tells us that the new systems are popular because it’s now easier for operatives to do their jobs. Before installing the current systems, we had a combination of metal detectors from various companies, all with slightly different software and testing regimes. However, standardising these regimes has made it easier for operatives, since standard operating procedures (SOPs) are all the same.”

Ongoing Relationship With METTLER TOLEDO “We’re also pleased with how audit-friendly METTLER TOLEDO’s systems are,” says Mike Gee. “The IPac documentation has helped with regulatory compliance, and gives us confidence that our products are being inspected to the highest standards.”

The company is keen to work in partnership with METTLER TOLEDO in the future – as Mike Gee explains: “Like any site, we still have pieces of equipment which we will, at some point, upgrade. We’re keen to continue to grow the business and hope to collaborate with METTLER TOLEDO again in the future.”

*Kinnerton’s Sherburn in Elmet site currently has a total complaints level of 0.19 per 100,000 units sold.

www.kinnerton.com