multihead weigher with the same head count.
Key Takeaways
Start from the product, not the head count. How the product moves — dry, sticky, fragile, or mixed — decides the weigher, not the datasheet.
A linear weigher is the honest answer for some packs. Large packs, loose tolerances, and slow lines do not need a multihead.
Sticky and fragile products need the right contact design, not more heads. Coated parts, a vibratory feed, and a short, gentle drop matter more than the head count.
Size the head count to the speed you run, then prove it on your own product. A trial on your material beats any datasheet figure.
Start With How the Product Moves
Before head count, before price, watch the product leave the hopper. How it falls decides more than any datasheet, because the machine is built to match it.
What the product does What the weigher must do Typical products Slides and meters cleanly Simple drop, low giveaway on tight packs Salt, sugar, rice, dry beans Clings, bridges, leaves residue Anti-stick surfaces, clean discharge Coated nuts, jerky, candied fruit Breaks or crushes on impact Short drop, wide hopper, low-impact transfer Chips, crackers, frozen pieces Blends several ingredients Ingredient groups, ratio control Trail mix, composite snacks
Giveaway is the product above target weight that leaves the plant without being paid for.
Treat the table as a set of questions. A free-flowing product can still need a multi head weigher when the pack is small and the line runs fast.
A sticky product can still run on a linear machine when the pack is large and the tolerance is loose. Browse the to see how differently the same machine name can be built inside.
Portions drop into the bagger below. Hopper and discharge design keeps sticky pieces moving and fragile pieces whole.
Dry, Free-Flowing Products
Salt, sugar, rice, and dry beans slide, meter, and drop without help. Nothing bridges in the hopper and nothing coats the buckets, so the weight repeats on its own.
That easy behavior makes this the one group where a simpler machine can be the honest answer.
When a Linear Weigher Is Enough
A — also listed as a weight filling machine — suits large packs, loose tolerances, low value product, and slower lines. It has fewer moving parts, cleans quickly, and costs less than a combination build.
Reach for it when:
the target weight is forgiving
the product is cheap per kilo
the line runs at moderate speed
the bag size is large
When a Multihead Weigher Pays Off
A combination weigher does something a single drop cannot. It weighs many small buckets, then dumps the set closest to target instead of whatever one bucket happens to hold. That is the multihead weigher machine: many small weighs, one combined answer.
A multihead weigher usually earns its price when:
the pack is small
the target weight is tight
the line runs fast
the product is worth enough per kilo that a gram matters
On a tight target, the product you stop giving away often covers the difference in price. Ask for that figure from a trial on your own material, because a datasheet number comes from someone else's product.
Sticky and Oily Products
Coated nuts, jerky, candied pieces, and anything oily cling to surfaces. The product bridges in the hopper, leaves a film on the buckets, and the next weigh starts from a dirty base.
A cheap weigher fails here quietly. The weight does not jump, it drifts, and nobody sees it until the samples come back from the lab.
Parts That Touch the Product
The fix is the contact design, not a bigger motor. Ask for:
coated or non-stick contact parts that resist buildup
a vibratory feed that keeps product moving instead of sitting
a shallow angle so pieces slide rather than rest
a hopper mouth shaped for a clean fall
a discharge path that empties fully between weighs
Each of those does more for accuracy on a sticky product than extra buckets.
Why More Heads Do Not Help
Ten dirty buckets give you the same drift as six. When the product sticks, the machine is choosing between wrong numbers, and having more of them does not help.
Name the product and how oily it is when you request a quote. A supplier who asks back about coating and feed method has met the problem before.
A supplier who only quotes a head count has not, and the gap shows up in the bags you have to reject long after the warranty ends.
Fragile and Irregular Pieces
Chips, crackers, biscuits, and frozen pieces break on impact. A broken piece is a reject, and a bag of crumbs comes back as a complaint.
This is the one case where slowing the cycle helps. Gentle handling protects the piece and protects your margin.
A Softer Path to the Bag
Look for these four things:
a short drop from bucket to bag
a wide hopper mouth that does not funnel pieces into a crush point
low-impact transfer between stages
a steady feed instead of a hard dump
Why Volume Guesses Fail
Irregular pieces do not stack the same way twice, so weight and volume disagree. That is fine for a weigher, which measures weight. The trouble starts when someone sizes the hopper from a catalog volume figure.
Send a sample and ask for a run at your normal speed. A video of uniform granules says nothing about how your crackers survive the drop. The machine alone does not protect a fragile product. The configuration does.
Mixed Products and Giveaway Math
A trail mix or a composite snack is a recipe, and every ingredient brings its own weight error. You have two ways to build that pack.
Blend first, weigh once. One dump, one weight, one giveaway to control.
Weigh each ingredient, then combine. Holds ratios for each recipe and keeps costly or allergen pieces in their own path.
Neither plan wins on its own. A fixed recipe usually favors the single weigh. A line that tunes ratios for each recipe, or one where a premium piece must not drift, favors the multi-station build.
Run the Numbers on Your Pack
The arithmetic is short, and your trial report holds every input you need.
Take the bag weight and write down the giveaway each plan shows, in grams per pack.
Subtract the smaller figure from the larger one. That is the extra product per pack.
Multiply by your annual bag count, then by your cost per kilo.
Take a 150 g trail mix as an example: 60 g cashews, 50 g almonds, 40 g cranberries. Blend first and weigh once, and the giveaway — say 3 g over target — lands wherever the mix falls, often on the cashews, the priciest part. Weigh each ingredient on its own station, and the cashews can be held to 1 g over while the cranberries absorb the rest. That 2 g per pack, at 500,000 packs a year, is 1,000 kg of cashews you stop giving away. These are round numbers to show the method, not a quote.
That last number is what the choice costs you in a year. Use figures from your own run. A percentage copied from a brochure will not match your product, and a supplier who sells accuracy on someone else's numbers is guessing.
Matching Heads to Line Speed
Head count is the last decision, and many buyers make it first.
More heads buy you a tighter spread, a higher rate, and more combinations to pick from. They also cost more, take longer to clean, and eat floor space.
Many lines buy more heads than they run. Weigh that trade before you upgrade, because an idle head still needs washing every shift.
Match Heads to Your Normal Speed
A fast line needs more heads to hold the target without slowing the bagger. A slow line with a loose tolerance can run fewer and still hit its number.
Buy for the speed you run most days, not the peak you hit for ten minutes.
Let the Bagger Set the Limit
The weigher feeds the , so the bagger sets the real cycle rate. Anything faster than the bagger can take is capacity you will dust, not run.
Give the supplier the bagger, the bag size, and the target weight, and the head count follows. Our builds start at a and scale up as the bagger and the product allow.
When the Product Changes Through the Day
A setting that held at seven in the morning can drift by three in the afternoon. Frozen pieces warm as they move down the line, oil settles at the bottom of a hopper, and a new delivery of the same ingredient can arrive denser or looser than the last one.
Plan for that drift instead of chasing it:
weigh a sample every shift, not once at start-up
keep a stored recipe for each product and pack size
ask how the weigher feeds weight readings back to the filler
set a cleaning break into the shift for oily product
A weigher that only holds weight for the first hour of a demo has not been tested. Ask for a run long enough to show where the drift starts.
Common Questions About Weighers
Should I Buy a Multihead or a Linear Weigher?
Start from the pack, not the machine name. Small packs, tight targets, and fast lines favor a multihead weigher; large packs with a loose tolerance run well on a linear machine.
Do More Heads Always Mean Better Accuracy?
No. Heads tighten the spread, but they also add cost, cleaning, and floor space. Past a point the bagger or the product sets the limit, and the extra heads sit idle. Size for a normal shift, then confirm it in a trial.
How Do I Set Up a Weigher for Sticky or Fragile Product?
Ask for coated contact parts, a vibratory feed, and a discharge that empties fully. For fragile pieces, ask for a short drop, a wide hopper mouth, and low impact transfer. Then send a sample — stickiness moves with temperature and oil content.
How Can I Check Accuracy Before I Buy?
Run your own product at your target weight and speed, and ask each supplier for the trial report. A datasheet figure comes from another product. Compare what each vendor measures on your sample across a full shift, then confirm the same number when your line starts up.
Get Your Product Tested Before You Order
Every product behaves differently once it reaches a real line, and no table replaces a run on your own material.
Send a sample, your bag size, and your target weight. We size the weigher from how your product actually moves, and we will say so when a linear machine is the better buy.
