Traffic light scales hold benefits for packing sheds

With escalating costs, and downward pressure on product prices, it's vital to seek simple ways to increase productivity.

In the fresh fruit and vegetable industry, many companies rely on manual packing processes, often utilising casual labour to pack into punnets/boxes/bags ready for supermarket consumers.

Labour is typically the biggest cost to a business, but there is another that can go unmeasured - the cost of extra produce given away in overfilled packs.

This can add up to thousands of dollars per week and some local packing sheds are reducing this "giveaway" with one simple change - utilising traffic light signals on their packing scales rather than staff focussing on the numeric weight display.

This simple idea has three immediate benefits:

People respond to signals with far less thought process than looking at numbers.

Green means "GO", Red means "STOP" - it's part of everyday life, transcending language and cultural communication barriers.

By utilising packing scales that have a target-based signal system, packing staff and management alike enjoy immediate benefits; stringent fill targets can be set for both upper and lower weight bands.

Packing staff are able to quickly fill and check that products are correct, and the increased visibility of red/green lights means management can easily oversee performance.

Many modern electronic scales have the capability to send outputs to lights or buzzers although a lot of users may not realise this functionality exists.

It's certainly worth a farmer checking with his or her local scale supplier/manufacturer.

With supermarkets pushing for more pre-packed fresh produce in Australia, the team at A&D Australsia expect this to be a focal point for some time as growers and packers look to improve speeds and reduce giveaway.

For more information, call 1800 241 434 or visit: www.andweighing.com.au