A Cape Town snack producer needed to weigh roasted chickpeas into pillow and gusseted bags from 5 g to 1 kg, coded and checked for weight. We supplied a 14-head multihead weigher on a VFFS bagger, fed by a Z-type elevator, with nitrogen flushing, a thermal transfer printer and a checkweigher.
The customer roasts chickpeas as a snack in Cape Town and packs them in retail bags from small single-serve packs up to 1 kg. Roasted chickpeas are light, crunchy pieces that break if they are handled roughly, and every bag has to reach its declared weight without overfilling.
The line had to weigh a light, crunchy snack accurately into a range of retail bags, keep it fresh, and code and check every bag before it left the line.
Every bag had to reach its declared weight, from 5 g packs to 1 kg bags, to within 2%.
Pillow and gusseted bags, with a hanging hole, linked strip packs and a nitrogen flush to keep the snack fresh.
A printed code on every bag and an automatic check that each bag is on weight.
We recommended a multihead weigher because it weighs light, irregular pieces such as roasted chickpeas accurately at speed, and holds each bag close to its target weight. The weigher sits on a stainless working platform above a VFFS bagger that forms, fills and seals each bag from film. A Z-type bucket elevator feeds the weigher gently, and the line adds nitrogen flushing, a thermal transfer printer, a checkweigher and a take-off conveyor.
The elevator lifts chickpeas to the weigher, the weigher drops each portion into a bag formed from film, and the bag is flushed, sealed, coded and checked.
| Weigher | 14-head multihead weigher, 1.6 L buckets |
| Weight range | 5 g to 1 kg |
| Accuracy | ±2% |
| Speed | 30 to 70 bags a minute on small bags |
| Bagger | SAP-420 VFFS |
| Bag styles | Pillow and side-gusset, linked strip packs |
| Bag size | 80–250 mm wide, 50–350 mm long |
| Forming shoulders | 160 mm and 230 mm |
| Film | OPP/CPP, OPP/PE, PET/PE, 0.04–0.12 mm |
| Bag extras | Hanging hole punch, nitrogen flushing, anti-static device |
| Feeder | Z-type bucket elevator, 7,200 L/h, 3 L buckets, silo vibrator |
| Coding and checks | Thermal transfer printer, checkweigher up to 5 kg |
| Platform | SUS304 stainless working platform |
| Contact parts | SUS304 stainless steel |
| Power | 380 V three-phase, 4.5 kW bagger |
Model codes shown are machines we have built or configured for previous projects. Your machine is specified and built to suit your product, output and pack format — not supplied off the shelf.
Each bag goes from bulk chickpeas to a coded, weight-checked pack in one pass.
A Z-type bucket elevator lifts the roasted chickpeas to the weigher, with a vibrator on the silo to keep them flowing.
The 14-head weigher combines portions from its buckets to hit the target weight for each bag, from 5 g to 1 kg.
The VFFS bagger forms a pillow or gusseted bag on its forming shoulder, flushes it with nitrogen, fills and seals it, and punches the hanging hole.
A thermal transfer printer codes each bag as it is made.
A checkweigher pushes off any bag that is off weight before the take-off conveyor carries the rest away.
The line was supplied to weigh, bag, flush, code and check roasted chickpeas from 5 g to 1 kg at 30 to 70 small bags a minute, with one or two operators.
Depending on bag size and fill weight.
A checkweigher pushes off any bag that is not.
Pillow and gusseted bags from the same line.
The first clip shows a multihead weigher on a VFFS machine like the one supplied. The second shows a Z-type elevator feeding a weighing line.
How the elevator lifts product gently to the weigher.
Video demonstrations of every machine type we supply, filmed in the workshop and on site.
Start from your product, your bag weights and the output you need, as this project did.
Weighers from 2 to 20 heads, on their own or as part of a bagging line.
Send us your product, your bag weights and the output you need. We will test it and come back with a recommendation or quotation.
