Multihead weighing can help in the following ways:

Filling bags
The range of bags which can be filled using multihead weighers is immense. At one end of the scale are large catering packs of many kilogrammes. At the other are small bags of crisps which can be handled at high speed and efficiency.

Mix-weighing
Products containing up to eight components can be mixed on a multihead weigher, very accurately at high speeds. The weigher is divided into sections, each with its own infeed. For example, a breakfast cereal containing hazelnuts and dried fruit plus two relatively cheap ingredients, could be weighed on a multihead with say eight heads devoted to each of the more expensive components and four heads to each of the other two. This would ensure high weighing speed while ensuring that overfilling of the expensive ingredients was negligible.

Placing into trays
A well-engineered distribution system enables you to combine the speed and accuracy of multihead weighing with precise, splash-free delivery of product into trays.

Multihead weighers were used initially for weighing certain vegetables. Their use expanded exponentially in the 1970s and 1980s when they were applied to the rapid weighing of snacks and confectionery into bags. What cherry tomatoes and crisps had in common was that they flowed easily through the machine and into the pack, with no more encouragement than gravity and a moderate level of vibration of the feeders. Since then, the accuracy and relative speed have been extended to many products which would in the early days of the technology have been seen as difficult to handle.

Sticky products
Fresh meat and fish, whether in a sauce or not, poultry and cheese (including grated cheese) can be moved along by using belts or screw feeders rather than vibration.

Granules and powders
While free-flowing, fine-grained powders can be weighed more cheaply by other means (such as cut-gate or linear weighers, or volumetric feeders), granules such as coffee granules and products such as loose tea can be weighed on today's multiheads.

Fragile products
Weighers with more shallow angles of descent and various cushioned inserts have made it possible to pack delicate and brittle items such as hand-made chocolates and gourmet biscuits.

Complex products
Using mix-weighing combined with a distribution system tailored to deliver separate components into a tray, a ready meal can be assembled with just the right quantities of, say, rice, meat and vegetables in the appropriate compartments.