Multi-Fill Depositors for Ready Meal Components

Multi-Fill Inc. design and build a range of depositors, named MPF, for products which have previously proved very difficult to fill by machine.

Multi-Fill Inc. of Salt Lake City, USA, represented in the UK and Ireland by F. Jahn & Co. Ltd., design and build a range of depositors, named MPF, for products which have previously proved very difficult to fill by machine, such as cooked pasta and rice.

The MPF design features a pneumatically operated volumetric filling head, which is controlled by a PLC. The system utilises a vacuum pump to pull ingredients into the volumetric pocket prior to dispensing. The vacuum also helps to evacuate air and some moisture, increasing the density of the product. This enables the MPF to deposit precise portions of product, whether the container be a tray, carton or pouch.

Multi-Fill Depositors

Multi-Fill have installed their MPF depositors into ready meals companies throughout Europe, North America, Australasia and Asia. In the UK, Headland Foods, operate an MPFSC-120 depositor to fill cooked chilled rice and spaghetti at speeds of up to 100 packs per minute and ready meal co-packer, Request Foods in the USA, have recently installed two MPFSH-075 machines to deposit various ready meal ingredients on lines running at up to 75 containers per minute. .

The latest MPF machines include upgraded adjustment for the filling head, making the Depositor much easier to adjust for line height variation. Another innovation is a dual-drive belt system that allows positive traction of the product conveyor belt. The conveyor belt itself is now available in food-grade blue plastic. These new features can be retrofitted to older machines.

Multi-Fill can also offer their clients a customised product distribution system that allows its MPFSC120-01 automatic depositor to work with multi-lane machines, such as thermoformers or tray filling/sealing lines.

One MPF filling head can now deal with up to eight containers in various combinations or patterns. Alternatively, the distribution system can be used as a stand-alone unit working, for example, directly under a multi-head weigher.