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How to Select the Right Weighing Scales for Your Business

Staff Writer
1/27/2019 | 5 min read
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How to Select the Right Weighing Scales for Your Business

Weighing scale solutions are essential in manufacturing and transportation processes for most industries. Whether it’s ensuring each unit of a product contains equally distributed contents or determining cargo weight to calculate shipping costs, weighing scales and balances play a vital role for manufacturers, transporters, and their clients.

Industrial weighing scales and balances come in many configurations designed for specific applications. From checkweighing and counting scales to crane scales, here are a few different options to consider for your organization.

Types of Weighing Scales

Most people think of a scale as a small household device that measures one’s body weight. However, for industrial applications, these are used to weigh incoming raw materials or finished goods that are ready for purchase and range from simple devices to massive, complex instruments.

A checkweighing scale is used to confirm a predetermined weight within a limit prescribed by the operator. Operators will weigh a specific product on them and confirm that the weight of each unit is uniform. Many checkweighing scales have a remote-activated switch or buzzing sound that indicates when operators have reached the desired weight. Checkweighing scales are the most common in conveyor operations and for quality management.

A counting scale is designed to weigh multiple loads of the same weight and displays a total count for all the loads. Companies that stock products use these scales to maintain and measure inventory correctly.

A crane scale possesses a nominal capacity of five thousand pounds or more and is designed to weigh loads suspended from an overhead, track-mounted crane. Crane scales are often found in shipyards and measure loads intended to be transported by boat.

Retail scales are generally smaller units used in retail settings such as grocery stores and supermarkets to weigh products like produce and determine its price based on market value per pound.

Rail scales are used to weigh cargo that will be transported by railway car or train to ensure safety and determine transport costs.

An analytical balance scale measures mass to especially high and precise degrees of accuracy. A 0.1mg or better (0.0001g) scale division is common in analytical balance scales.

A microbalance scale is designed to display a particular balance that has a readability of one microgram or better. They require specialized maintenance to reduce errors related to weighing quantities.

A multi-interval, or a multi-range or dual-range, scale typically has one weighing range that is divided into various weighing sections, with each one assigned a different scale interval. The load applied, whether it is increasing or decreasing, automatically determines each segment.

A weight classifier rounds weight values upward to the proceeding scale division. Ordinary weighing scales possess a “breakpoint” that comes midway between scale intervals. Any weight that lands between the intervals can round up or down to the next one. Weight classifiers that are made for postal and shipping applications have breakpoints that don’t display the midway point; any segmented unit above a certain weight is rounded up to the next interval.

The Right Scale for Your Industry

Weighing scale solutions are varied and multidimensional across industries, such as transportation and retail. By choosing the best one for your needs and keeping it precisely calibrated and regularly maintained, you’ll have a scale that is accurate for years to come.

 

Resources:

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