Dosing and tray handling lines

Semiautomatic of fully automated tray handling line

Our tray handling systems are designed to fit our customers’ needs. The line can be either fully mechanized with automatic machinery and dosing units. Or if you want, integrate manual workstations in the line.

Dosing lines that grow with your production

We can modify and customize the ready meal tray handling line according to your requirements. When your production and capacity grow, the tray handling system grows along. We can add and integrate new units and machinery for added capacity or new seasonal products.

Our solutions meet the strict hygiene standards of the food industry

Ready meals

• Meals with meat or plant-based protein
• Pasta-based meals
• Rice-based meals
• Layered meals, like lasagna
• Soups
• Porridges
• Sauces and garnishes

Meat, poultry, fish, and seafood

• Meat and meat products, like sausages, meatballs, or cutlets
• Poultry and poultry products, like nuggets
• Fish, shellfish, and other seafood products, like fish fingers

Fruits, vegetables, seeds, and nuts

• Berries and fruit – fresh, dried, or powdered
• Vegetables – raw, cooked, sliced, or cubed
• Nuts and trail mixes
• Seeds and grain
• Spices and powders

Dosing and packing lines customized for your unique needs

The Finntray tray handling line is a flexible food dosing and packaging solution for both fresh and ready meals. You can choose a fully automated line, or if you need, integrate manual workstations into the line. We can equip the manual workstations with scales to determine the exact weight of the product – and minimize losses and food waste.

The final weight is adjusted by adding sauce with a Finntray sauce dispenser. If needed, other components, such as seasoning, spices, or cheese, can be dispensed to the trays with dosing equipment.

How the ​​ready meal tray handling line works

The Finntray tray packaging line for ready meals is suitable for a variety of products, including rice, pasta, carrot, potato, meat, fish, and seafood as well as liquid components – all ingredients needed to make a ready meal. Our dosing and packing lines consist of weight-based and volume-based solid and liquid dispensers.

The dosing line integrates into tray handling equipment and tray closing machines to create the final packaged meal. The machinery is suitable for packing meals in trays of different sizes and shapes. We also offer adjustable denesters for several tray sizes.

Customer case: Lasagne dosing and packing line

We’ve developed a ready meal tray filling equipment and line specifically for lasagne products. The lasagne line consists of a tray dispenser, a trolley dock with mixer and pipe outlet for a pump, a Nestan 2-headed volume-based dispenser, a cobot, a closing and decking machine, a metal detector, conveyors, and a tray sealing device from our partner Tecnovac.

First, the Nestan dispenser doses the sauce in layers with lasagne sheets set by the cobot. The weight is balanced to the desired final weight by adding an adjusted amount of sauce for the last layer. A conveyor transfers the tray to a cheese dispenser if desired.

Next, the tray moves to a sealing machine that closes the tray either with a lid or film. The tray passes through a metal detector. Now the tray moves to a loading area to wait for packing.

Finally, after the tray handling line, the final product is transferred to a freezer tunnel and lastly, to cold storage. All done!

Customer case: Bag filling and packing line

Our bag filling line is a powerful complete solution for dosing and packing powders, liquids, or solid products into bags or pouches.

In the bag filling line, we employ robotics extensively. This allows us to free up the most monotonous tasks with poor ergonomics to cobots.

First, a cobot picks up the pouch with suction cups and opens it. Based on either weight or units, the desired amount of product is dispensed into the pouch. Next, the pouch moves to the checking scale where its weight is checked. If the weight doesn’t meet the set criteria, the pouch is rejected.

Finally, the pouch is closed and transferred to packing. The line is connected to a box conveyor where the pouches are packed into cardboard boxes either by staff or a cobot. We can also install a cobot to transfer the boxes to shipping or storage.

What does the process look like in practice? Watch our video.