Introduction

There are numerous different scales that are used in the food and drink industry. Accuracy is essential as underweight packages can lead to unhappy customers, while overweight packages can lead to costly giveaway and overweight shipments.

Check Weighers

These are the most basic scale. An item is placed on the plate and a weight is produced in either grams and kilos or pounds and ounces on a display. These are usually used in food processing factories to spot check raw materials or finished goods or to ensure adequate quality control. Many checkweighers are IP69K rated and fully waterproof.  Industrial check weighers are usually stainless-steel and have been specifically designed to meet the stringent hygiene requirements of the food processing industry.

Price Computing Scales

Price-computing scales are generally basic and easy to operate. They differ from check weighers in the fact that when a product is weighed the work out a monetary price for a product based on the programmed price per kilogram. They are ideal for farmers’ markets or roadside produce stands as they often function with AC adapter or battery, so they can operate where electricity isn’t available. Rubber feet offer stability on desks, tables, countertops or unsteady surfaces, resulting in consistent, accurate readings. RS-232 interface is available on some price computing scales, allowing information to be transmitted to a printer, computer or EPoS terminal.

Retail scales

Retail scales are usually found in butchers, fishmongers, farm shops etc. They come in many shapes and sizes and weighing capacities (3kg to 30kg, depending on the required application). These scales can be attached to a cash drawer and act as a weighing cash register, producing a receipt for customers once a transaction has taken place. Retail scales can also produce labels where necessary, these can be produced at the time of sale to stick on the weighed items packaging or prior to sale in prepack mode. More advanced retail scales can be linked together, and users can log into a back office application to send down and draw back information from the scale(s).

Conclusion

There are many different types of scales which can be used for business, therefore before making a decision it is essential to work out your specific requirements.