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.

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Product Guiding Checkweigher

A product guiding checkweigher is an automated scale that measures each item on a production line, then directs products to different lanes based on whether they meet target weight specifications. Shawpak Systems Ltd, based in Oakville, Ontario, supplies and installs these systems for food processing facilities, meat operations, and manufacturing plants across North America.

The Problem: Weight Variance Halts Production in Oakville

A mid-sized meat processing facility in Oakville was experiencing consistent product weight variance on their packaging line. Some packages ran over target weight, wasting product and reducing margins. Others fell short, creating compliance risk with provincial food safety standards and risking customer complaints. Their existing manual inspection system could not keep pace with line speed-staff were pulling packages off the conveyor at random intervals, which meant defects slipped through.

The operation manager faced a choice: slow the line to manual speeds or invest in equipment that could inspect every single package without interruption. Slowing production would cost thousands in lost throughput. They needed a solution that could:

• Weigh every product automatically without stopping the line
• Separate overweight, underweight, and acceptable products into three distinct lanes
• Track weight data for compliance records and production trends
• Integrate with their existing conveyor system with minimal downtime

The Approach: Shawpak's Technical Expertise and On-Site Support

Shawpak Systems Ltd sent a technical consultant to the Oakville facility to assess the line configuration, product characteristics, and throughput requirements. This consultation phase is critical. A checkweigher designed for frozen chicken, for example, behaves differently than one handling packaged ground beef-weight distribution, package density, and line speed all affect sensor accuracy.

The Shawpak team recommended a system that integrated with the customer's existing conveyor at the point where packages were sealed. Because the facility needed real-time lane diversion, they selected equipment with pneumatic reject arms that could activate in milliseconds, sending underweight or overweight packages to separate collection areas without disrupting the main line flow. Think of it as a traffic control system for your packages-each one gets weighed, and a decision is made instantly about where it should go.

Shawpak arranged on-site training for the Oakville plant's operators and maintenance staff. This is not a piece of equipment you install and walk away from. The team demonstrated how to calibrate the scales, interpret weight reports, and perform routine cleaning-especially important in meat processing environments where sanitation directly affects equipment lifespan and food safety. Shawpak's Centre of Excellence demonstration facility in the region also allowed supervisory staff to see the system in action before full deployment.

After installation, Shawpak provided certified after-sales support. The equipment sends weight data to a control interface that tracks every package measured. This data became invaluable for troubleshooting upstream issues-if a sudden drift in weights appeared, it could signal a problem with the sealing machine or product portioning, not the checkweigher itself.

The Results: Precision, Compliance, and Margin Recovery

Within two weeks of deployment, the Oakville facility achieved these measurable outcomes:

• Product giveaway (overweight packages) dropped by 6%, recovering approximately 2-3 percent of total product weight across the shift
• Underweight rejections fell by 94%, reducing customer returns and compliance complaints to near zero
• Production line speed increased by 12 percent because the checkweigher operated at machine speed without manual intervention
• Weight data reports provided clear trend visibility, helping the team identify and correct a drift in their portioning equipment within days rather than weeks

The facility also discovered an unexpected benefit. The detailed weight tracking data allowed them to negotiate more favorable terms with their raw material supplier by proving consistency in their finished product. For a processing operation working on thin margins, that precision became a competitive advantage.

If your facility in Oakville or elsewhere across Canada and the United States faces similar challenges-product variance, compliance pressure, or the need to maintain line speed while improving accuracy-Shawpak Systems Ltd can help you evaluate the right solution. Reach out to discuss your specific operation and how this technology might fit your needs.