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| Loma has taken its biggest ever stand at Interpack to promote the complete portfolio of end-of-line inspection equipment, including the Select product range. There will also be a welcome bar for all visitors attending the show so Loma looks forward to seeing you all there! |  AS 1500 - part of the Select Checkweigher Range | ||||
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| With more and more legislation coming into play across all industries and in a continual effort to maximise efficiency, manufacturers have to ensure that the equipment on the production line is being used to its fullest capacity. With this in mind, Loma provides a comprehensive range of training sessions to support its customers. |  | ||||
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| As well as providing effective temperature measurement of frozen and chilled foods, Loma Scientific’s Celsius system is also an effective risk management tool. Retailers are increasingly conscious that suppliers’ procedures need to be tightened up in order to achieve higher standards of food safety and are rethinking Codes of Practice to reflect the latest technology available in the marketplace. |  Loma Scientific's Celsius system | ||||
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| In the quest to live healthier lifestyles and feel more virtuous, today’s consumers just can’t get enough fruit - and the more conveniently it comes, the better. |  Loma's AS series playing its part in quality control | ||||
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| Greetings from Australia - the land of long beaches, hot summers and an increasing demand for Loma’s products! |  | ||||
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| Loma has two new faces in the sales team and is delighted to welcome Bob Borsellino and Rodrigo Fernandez to support the sales groups across Canada and Latin America respectively. |  Bob Borsellino and Rodrigo Fernandez | ||||
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| To help customers cope with peak demands or short production runs, Loma has introduced a hire service for metal detectors, checkweighers and x-ray systems. All systems are cleaned, tested and calibrated prior to dispatch, and can be tailored to suit individual requirements. |  IQ2 Conveyor | ||||
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| For those customers wanting a longer-term solution to production requirements, Loma has introduced a range of refurbished systems for sale at reduced prices. All machines, including metal detectors, checkweighers and x-ray systems, are refurbished to the highest standards and calibrated to individual requirements before dispatch. |  AS Combo | ||||
The articles in full | |||||
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| Empak 2005, 5-6 April: Stand 6020 |  AS 1500 - part of the Select Checkweigher Range | ||||
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| The training sessions provide detailed instructions on how to get the most out of Loma equipment and supply customers with guidance on complying with regulations which may affect their industry, whether it is health and safety precautions when using x-ray equipment, dealing with Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) in the food industry, the code of practice for packers and importers, or adhering to guidelines proposed by the National Radiological Protection Board (NRPB). |  | ||||
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| Food safety issues have hit the headlines again across Europe after February’s mass recall of 474 food products affected by the Sudan 1 dye scare. In response to this, the chief of the UK’s Food Standards Agency has issued a severe warning to the industry as a whole, urging it to ‘put its house in order or face plunging public trust and prosecutions for failing to protect the nation’s health’. This sentiment is clearly echoed globally, and the spotlight is falling on manufacturers and retailers to be more vigilant across all areas of food safety. | |||||
| Loma’s Celsius temperature monitoring system is gaining renown as an integral part of manufacturers’ due diligence procedures and HACCP systems. It can play a vital role in minimising the risk of bacterial growth in products and retaining product quality. Take packed salads as an example - if the temperature is too low, the leaves become mushy, but when too high the leaves become limp and there is a risk that any traces of listeria left over from the washing process can grow. Effective temperature control is also critical to the safety of other products such as cream cakes, seafood salads or sandwiches and ready meals. By using Celsius at the point of production, manufacturers can accurately record test results and provide essential data to retailers on the quality of products leaving the factory. With ‘Codes of Practice’ for suppliers under review by the major multiples, tools such as Celsius will help ensure compliance. |  Loma Scientific's Celsius system | ||||
| Loma is now working with the Campden and Chorleywood Food Research Association to gain independent endorsement of the system’s performance, so watch this space for the results in a later edition of the newsletter. | |||||
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| Loma’s AS series combined metal detector and checkweigher model not only ensures that packs reach the shelves contaminant-free and at the correct weight, but most importantly, prevents product from being literally ‘given away’. And with a customer base comprising of the major multiples in the UK and Eire, the importance of maintaining margins has never been greater! | |||||
| Having built up its reputation as a key supplier to the retailers, Paradise Foods is keen to keep tight controls on production processes. Manufacturing Director, Steve Neale comments: “Loma supplies the AS series with its data management software package Loma OnLine which we are using as a management tool to translate batch information directly onto our computer system. This way, we get a good indication of where we are in the production plan and also monitor product overfill”. The windows based system amalgamates weight and overfill date, presenting it in a format that is easy to understand. It can also be used as a real-time management tool, giving an instant overview of performance or historical data that can be used to identify weaknesses and initiate improvements. |  Loma's AS series playing its part in quality control | ||||
| The company is currently reaping the benefits of buoyant market conditions. Demand for pre-packed fruit has soared over the past few years for a number of reasons: Fruit is increasingly seen as a meal replacement by the office lunch set; the population is becoming more health-conscious and consumers are turning to fruit due to concerns about food safety in other sectors, such as meat. The pace of life means that people favour convenient solutions and handy portion-sized packs. The growth in staff and turnover goes hand in hand with the introduction of more automated manufacturing processes. The purchase of the first Loma AS series was part of this development programme and since the original order, the company has purchased a further three AS series combined checkweigher and metal detectors. Steve Neale continues, “The Loma AS series have been supplied to a specification which will allow us to operate at twice the current speed as our volumes increase. We run 16 hours per day, 7 days a week to service the retailers, who order at 7am and require dispatch the same evening. At the moment, there are 5 filling lines packing around 200,000 units per week, but this is growing all the time.” “We opted for the AS series because it is compact enough to fit on the production line where space is limited due to the over-wrapping machine. Our operatives also received comprehensive training during the commissioning phase and can call in the support of Loma engineers if necessary.” Loma’s Product Manager for checkweighers, Alan Johnson comments, “Paradise Foods selected Loma, because its technology is tried and tested and the equipment is robust and reliable. As checkweighers are part of our core offering, they valued our long-term commitment to the development of the product range and knew that obsolescence would not be an issue in the future.” | |||||
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| Inspection Systems has been Loma's Australian distributor since 1997. The company has offices located in Melbourne and Sydney with plans to extend to Brisbane later in the year. It has a strong heritage in the meat, pharmaceutical, frozen foods, dairy and confectionery markets and works closely with Loma to cater for the growing demand for metal detection and X-ray systems in the region. For contact details in Australia or any other territories, please visit www.loma.com |  | ||||
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| Bob Borsellino has taken on the position of Business Director for Loma Systems Canada. His responsibilities include maintaining key supplier relationships in the region and expanding Loma's market position to the western provinces of Canada. He is also responsible for ensuring customers receive the best aftermarket support. Bob is a native Canadian, with over 20 years in the food machinery business in the Canadian market mostly with Convenience Food Systems. | |||||
| Rodrigo Fernandez has been appointed sales manager in Latin America and is primarily responsible for further developing Loma's market presence in the region. A key focus will be expanding into the Central American textile markets and ensuring that Loma's aftermarket support remains second to none. Rodrigo was born in Chile and has lived with his family in the United States since 1986. Most recently, he headed up operations for Domino in Latin America before joining the Loma Systems Inc. team in 2005. Loma welcomes both Bob and Rodrigo to the team and wishes them both every future success! |  Bob Borsellino and Rodrigo Fernandez | ||||
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| Loma has a stock of 30-40 machines at its Bradford site available for either short- or long-term hire, both in the UK and on the European continent. This service can provide the ideal solution for short-term requirements such as temporary increases in capacity to fulfil urgent orders or the need to replace existing equipment that is already being refurbished at Loma. The European customer service team will offer full calibration, commissioning and tractability for each system. Further information on this exciting development is available on Loma's website, which features a link to the full list of available equipment: www.loma.com/hire_refurb/index.shtml |  IQ2 Conveyor | ||||
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| All machines are offered with a substantial discount compared to the new machine list price. |  AS Combo | ||||
Feedback and enquiries If you no longer wish to receive Loma News, please email us on lomanews@loma.com For further information on Loma's range of products and services, visit www.loma.com | |||||
