Samworth, weigh-scale – case study

 

• Samworth, a large food-manufacturing company, asked Microsynthesis to develop a weigh-scale to replace the hundreds they currently use on their food production lines, which are expensive, complex and often break down.
• We spent time at their facility, observing the production process but also the other related processes. We interviewed managers, supervisors and operatives to discover their wishes and gripes with the existing system.
• We specified a high-precision weigh-scale with productivity-enhancing features and which could be networked with all others in the factory and integrated with the company’s production management system.
• We tested a number of potential components for the system and produced a proof-of-concept prototype.
• We designed and developed a smart electronic scale subsystem with versatile connectivity interfaces.
• To engineer the complete product, a team of specialists was engaged to work on the user interface, the mechanics and software integration.
• The finished design not only offered a lower cost product and productivity enhancements but the connectivity feature brought benefits in quality, planning and waste reduction.