A slicing apparatus for a continuous slicing of products including at least one slicing unit for cutting off product slices. The slicing apparatus also includes a supply apparatus for a multi-track supply of products to the slicing unit. The slicing apparatus further includes a removal apparatus for removing portions that each comprise at least one cut-off product slice. The supply apparatus includes a loading apparatus that is configured for receiving at least one product and is adjustable as a whole between a loading position and a supply position. The supply apparatus also includes at least one conveying apparatus with conveying tracks. The slicing apparatus also includes a control apparatus for controlling the conveying tracks independently such that portions are produced continuously in that the cutting off of product slices is interrupted in one conveying track and the cutting off of product slices is started in another conveying track.

A food article slicing machine includes a food article loading apparatus with a lift tray assembly for moving food articles from a staging position to an elevated position at a beginning of a food article feed path, a food article feed apparatus disposed over the food article loading apparatus having an upper conveyor assembly with an independently driven endless conveyor belt used in cooperation with a food article gripper for moving the food articles along the food article feed path, a food article stop gate that forms part of the food article feed path and opens to drop food article end portions, and a slicing station at an end of the food article feed path with a knife for slicing the food articles.

A system for processing food products comprises a slicing apparatus that is configured to cut off slices from food products and to form part portions having one or more slices in a portioning section. A transport device adjoining the portioning section is provided and the portioning section comprises a conveying device that transfers the part portions to the transport device. The system comprises a stacking apparatus that is configured to form a food portion comprising a plurality of part portions. The transport device is configured to transport the part portions onto a product support of the stacking apparatus, wherein the transport device and/or the stacking apparatus has/have a scale for measuring the weight of the part portions and/or of the food portion.

In order to avoid a decrease of cycle frequency of a packaging machine within a packaging line caused by a previous interruption of a slicer's on-slice operation, e.g. during its loading, special residual buffers for additional buffering of portions compared to normal operation may be released by a controller shortly before the interruption. For example, non-buffer positions for portions on buffer bands may be released, or portion positions on non-buffer bands may be released.

A cutting device and method. The cutting device comprises a frame body (1), provided with: a conveying assembly (2), the conveying assembly comprising a feeding end (21), a discharging end (22), and an avoidance position (23) provided between the feeding end and the discharging end, and the conveying assembly being constructed to convey a material (5) from the feeding end to the discharging end; and a cutting assembly (3), the cutting assembly comprising a cutter (31), and the cutter being constructed to be capable of moving towards the conveying assembly to the avoidance position.

A cutting device and method. The cutting device comprises a frame body (1), provided with: a conveying assembly (2), the conveying assembly comprising a feeding end (21), a discharging end (22), and an avoidance position (23) provided between the feeding end and the discharging end, and the conveying assembly being constructed to convey a material (5) from the feeding end to the discharging end; and a cutting assembly (3), the cutting assembly comprising a cutter (31), and the cutter being constructed to be capable of moving towards the conveying assembly to the avoidance position.

The disclosure relates to a slicing machine for slicing foods, comprising: a feed unit adapted to feed at least one product caliber in a feed direction, a cutting unit, and a control unit adapted to control at least the feed unit and the cutting unit. The control unit is adapted to be in signal connection with a processing apparatus separate from the slicing machine. The processing apparatus is adapted to process the product caliber before it is sliced by the slicing machine. The control unit is further adapted to receive at least one dimension and/or a weight and/or a density of the at least one product caliber or data representative thereof from the processing apparatus and to control the feed unit and/or the cutting unit based on the at least one dimension and/or the weight and/or the density. The disclosure relates further to a system and to a method.

The disclosure relates to a slicing machine for slicing foods, comprising: a feed unit adapted to feed at least one product caliber in a feed direction, a cutting unit, and a control unit adapted to control at least the feed unit and the cutting unit. The control unit is adapted to be in signal connection with a processing apparatus separate from the slicing machine. The processing apparatus is adapted to process the product caliber before it is sliced by the slicing machine. The control unit is further adapted to receive at least one dimension and/or a weight and/or a density of the at least one product caliber or data representative thereof from the processing apparatus and to control the feed unit and/or the cutting unit based on the at least one dimension and/or the weight and/or the density. The disclosure relates further to a system and to a method.

A trim optimization system may include a first cutting assembly configured to generate workpiece trim and trimmed workpieces, a sensor assembly configured to generate at least one of trimmed workpiece and trim sensor data, and a sorting assembly configured to divert trim from the first cutting assembly to a trim use assembly. The trim optimization system may include memory storing instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause a computing device of the workpiece processing optimization system to: process input data including at least one of trimmed workpiece sensor data, trim sensor data, trim demand for the trim use assembly, workpiece supply data, and workpiece processing requirements; and, output a trim optimization plan including at least one of: a trim designation location in the trim use assembly for an amount of trim; and instructions for adjusting settings to change an amount of workpiece trim generated by the first cutting assembly.

A food-processing system for processing food products (e.g. pieces of meat, pieces of cheese) includes a cutting device for cutting the food products into slices and a conveyor for conveying the food product portions away from the cutting device along a main conveyor path. The conveyor fulfills several functions in the food-processing system, such as buffering, aligning, orienting and product formatting of the food product portions, by a discontinuous conveyor. The discontinuous conveyor includes at least one conveyed-products carrier movable along the main conveying path. The main conveying path is freely programmable within a conveying area.