Enhanced quality control

German gingerbread manufacturer Frank Lebkuchen GmbH has enhanced its quality control procedures with the installation of an Ishida IX-GA-2475 X-ray machine.

The new inspection system is in operation at the end of the company’s most important production line, checking its standard mixed gingerbread pack with a fill weight of 200g, which is Frank Lebkuchen’s best selling product and accounts for almost 80 per cent of its entire output. The foil wrapped cardboard trays each contain seven pieces of a mix of the three different gingerbread types – natural, chocolate-coated and frosted.

The gingerbread pieces sit upright in the packs and, due to their different thicknesses, place high demands on the X-ray inspection system. Nevertheless the Ishida X-ray has been able to be calibrated perfectly for its intended use, according to the company.

“The different types of gingerbread in the pack are easy to programme, and we can fulfil new orders very quickly,” comments Frank Lebkuchen‘s managing director Helmut Frank.

Precision adjustments can be made during ongoing production, and password-protected areas ensure that certain settings can be changed only by authorised employees.

The company turned to Ishida “because the company is the leader in X-ray inspection technology,” says Frank. A comprehensive series of tests at Ishida’s centre for X-ray inspection in Norderstedt, near Hamburg, was then undertaken with various packs of gingerbread deliberately prepared with contaminants before undergoing inspection. The system reliably detected even the smallest foreign bodies made from metal, hard rubber and glass inside the gingerbread. “The results of the tests were convincing and the foreign body detection worked wonderfully,” says Frank.

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