Established in 1984 Shawpak Systems prides itself on providing high level technical sales and support to our valued customer base. Offering solutions for Product Inspection, Packaging and Hygiene equipment sales and after sales support including certified customer training on site or at our Centre of Excellence training and demonstration facility.

What Our Clients Are Saying

C Series Checkweigher

A checkweigher is an automated weighing system that verifies product weight during packaging and production, rejecting items that fall outside specified tolerances and preventing underweight or overweight shipments from reaching customers. Shawpak Systems Ltd supplies and integrates this equipment for food processing, pharmaceutical, and manufacturing facilities across Canada and the United States, including operations throughout Oakville and across Ontario.

What a Checkweigher Does and Why It Matters

In food processing and manufacturing, weight accuracy directly affects compliance, profitability, and brand reputation. Underweight products create legal liability and customer dissatisfaction. Overweight products reduce margin. Manual spot-checking catches only a fraction of errors and ties up labor.

A checkweigher continuously measures each package as it moves along the production line. When a package deviates from the acceptable range, the system automatically rejects it via an eject mechanism or diverts it for rework. This eliminates human error, reduces product waste, and provides objective documentation for regulatory audits.

For pharmaceutical companies and meat processing operations, weight verification is often a regulatory requirement. For all manufacturers, the equipment pays for itself through reduced giveaway, fewer customer complaints, and faster throughput compared to manual inspection.

How This Equipment Integrates Into Your Line

A checkweigher sits downstream of your packaging equipment, after products are sealed but before they leave the facility. Most models accommodate conveyor speeds from 40 to 200 packages per minute, depending on product type and weight range.

The system works in these stages:

1. A product approaches the weighing platform on your conveyor.
2. The scale measures the weight in milliseconds.
3. The controller compares the result to your programmed min/max range.
4. If in range, the product passes. If out of range, an air jet or pusher ejects it into a reject bin or chute.
5. Data logs each result for traceability and statistical analysis.

Installation requires a stable conveyor section, power supply, and integration with your existing control system. Shawpak Systems handles technical advisory during the selection process so the equipment matches your line speed, product weight, and facility layout. On-site training ensures your operators understand calibration, maintenance, and troubleshooting.

Accuracy, Speed, and Rejection Modes

Modern checkweighers achieve repeatability of plus or minus 2 to 5 grams, depending on the model and product characteristics. Heavier items and stable products yield tighter repeatability; light or unstable products naturally show wider variation.

Processing speed matters in high-volume environments. A system that handles 150 packages per minute on your line is useless if it can only reject at 80 per minute; packages will back up and slow production. Shawpak Systems analyzes your throughput during the consultation phase to avoid this mismatch.

Rejection mode also varies by application. Air jet ejection works well for light items like snack bars or small sachets but cannot move heavy packages. A pusher arm or diverter chute suits heavier products. Some facilities need the reject product to fall into a bin for manual sorting; others need it diverted to a rework station. The right choice depends on your specific process.

Data Logging and Compliance Documentation

Regulatory bodies in food and pharmaceutical manufacturing expect proof that weight control is active and documented. A checkweigher with integrated data logging creates that proof automatically.

Modern units record:

• Timestamp and product weight for each unit measured
• Pass or reject status
• Statistical summary (average, standard deviation, min/max seen during a production run)
• Alerts for drift or out-of-range events

This data can be exported to your facility management system or stored on-device for audit retrieval. When a regulatory inspector or customer quality team arrives, you have objective evidence that your process was monitored continuously, not sampled occasionally. For Oakville-based manufacturers and processors, this documentation is often the difference between passing an audit and failing one.

Shawpak Systems provides after-sales support and parts distribution, ensuring your system stays calibrated and accurate over its operational life. Regular calibration checks and preventive maintenance are straightforward and typically take less than an hour per quarter.

Making the Decision: Key Factors to Evaluate

Before committing to a checkweigher, assess your situation honestly:

• Current reject rate: If manual inspection already catches 98% of errors, the financial case is weak. If errors slip through regularly or you suspect higher than 2% waste, the system often pays for itself in months.
• Regulatory requirement: If your customers or certifications demand weight verification, the decision is already made. Budget for the system as a compliance cost.
• Production volume and line speed: Low-speed lines (<40 packages per minute) may not justify investment. High-speed lines (>150 per minute) almost always do.
• Product consistency: Fragile, settling, or moisture-sensitive products show larger inherent weight variation. The equipment must tolerate that variation while still catching genuine errors.
• Space and integration: Retrofitting an existing line costs more than building it in. Understand your conveyor section, power supply, and control system before consulting.

Shawpak Systems operates a Centre of Excellence demonstration facility where you can see equipment running your product type and line speed before purchase. This hands-on evaluation removes guesswork from the decision.

If you operate a food processing, pharmaceutical, meat processing, or manufacturing facility and need to verify product weight automatically, or if you are unsure whether a checkweigher fits your operation, contact Shawpak Systems Ltd. Our team will review your line, discuss your compliance and efficiency goals, and recommend the right solution or confirm that your current process is sufficient. Reach out to discuss your requirements.