Siddharth Kachroo, Head of Sales – Product Inspection India, Mettler Toledo
In an exclusive conversation with Food & Beverages Processing magazine, Siddharth Kachroo, Head of Sales – Product Inspection India, Mettler Toledo, discusses the company’s operations and product inspection solutions for India’s food and beverage industry, including checkweighing, metal detection, X-ray inspection and ProdX™ data management. He shares insights into how Mettler Toledo is supporting manufacturers of different scales with scalable automation, digitalised quality control, advanced AI-enabled inspection technologies, sustainability-focused production and improved traceability. The conversation also explores emerging opportunities across India’s food manufacturing sector and the company’s priorities for strengthening its local presence through technology, application expertise and long-term customer support.
Could you give us an overview of Mettler Toledo’s operations in India and the key solutions you currently offer to food and beverage manufacturers across the country?
Mettler Toledo combines strong local food safety expertise in India with the technology, research and application experience of a global organisation. This means manufacturers can work with local teams who understand their production environment and requirements, while also drawing on experience from food manufacturing applications around the world.
Our “Inspect. Protect. Comply.” approach brings together the inspection technologies, data and expertise manufacturers need to strengthen quality control across the production line.
Our core solutions include checkweighing, metal detection and x-ray inspection. At Anuga FoodTec India in Hall 4, Booth L-51, we will be exhibiting product inspection systems such as the C33 checkweigher to support accurate in-line weight control. On the booth we will also be exhibiting the M31R which provides reliable metal contaminant detection, plus the X12 and X13 x-ray inspection systems to address a broader range of physical contamination and product integrity requirements across packaged and bulk-flow applications.
These technologies are supported by ProdX™ data management software, which connects inspection devices and helps manufacturers automate data capture, strengthen traceability and gain better visibility of inspection performance. Together, this gives manufacturers access to both the inspection technology and expertise they need to build a quality-control approach around their particular products, processes and production priorities.
India’s food and beverage industry includes both large-scale manufacturers and rapidly growing mid-sized processors. How does Mettler Toledo adapt its solutions to meet the different automation, quality, and investment requirements of these businesses?
There is no single route to automation, particularly in a market as diverse as India. A large manufacturer operating highly automated lines will often have very different requirements from a growing processor taking its first steps towards automated inspection.
For a mid-sized manufacturer, the priority may be introducing reliable inspection at a critical point in production or moving away from manual quality checks. The focus is on selecting a solution that addresses the immediate risk and delivers a practical level of automation without unnecessary complexity.
At the other end of the spectrum, larger manufacturers may be looking for higher detection performance, automated testing, integrated inspection technologies or greater connectivity across multiple lines and sites.
Combination systems can also be valuable where manufacturers want to bring two quality-control processes together, such as checkweighing and metal detection, while using less production space.
The important point is scalability. Manufacturers can introduce the level of inspection that reflects their requirements today, with the ability to develop their approach as production volumes, automation and quality expectations increase.
How do you view the current competition in the Indian market, and what key USP sets Mettler Toledo apart from other players in the food and beverage industry?
The Indian market is increasingly sophisticated, and manufacturers have a wide range of technology choices available to them. Our differentiation therefore goes beyond the specification of an individual machine. A major strength is our ability to combine global expertise with a strong local presence. Customers in India have access to technology and application knowledge developed across international markets, alongside local specialists who understand the realities of their production environment and relevant regulatory and customer requirements.
Our breadth of expertise is also important. Because we work across multiple inspection technologies, we can look at the manufacturer’s quality-control challenge as a whole, rather than approaching it from the perspective of one particular type of equipment.
Our “Your Partner in Precision” positioning reflects the other major element of our approach, which is long-term support. From initial application advice through to installation, training, performance verification, preventative maintenance and ongoing service, our local teams support customers throughout the lifecycle of their equipment. It is this combination of global capability, local knowledge and long-term partnership that we believe sets Mettler Toledo apart.
With food safety and inspection systems becoming increasingly important, how is Mettler Toledo helping Indian food manufacturers use automation and digital technologies to improve product inspection, quality control, and production efficiency?
Automation is changing what manufacturers expect from product inspection. It is no longer only about identifying a problem and rejecting the affected product. Manufacturers increasingly want inspection systems to generate useful data, reduce manual processes and provide greater visibility of quality performance.
Our inspection systems automate core processes such as weight control and contamination detection, carrying out repeatable checks at production speed and automatically removing products that fall outside defined parameters. ProdX™ takes this further by connecting inspection devices across the line and bringing their data into a centralised view. Inspection results can be captured automatically in real time, supporting traceability and reducing reliance on manual records. It can also create clear, audit-ready reports and give production and quality teams greater visibility of inspection performance. This helps teams investigate issues more quickly, identify emerging problems and make better-informed decisions about production.
For manufacturers investing in digitalisation, the opportunity is to turn inspection data into something that can actively support quality control and line performance, rather than simply recording whether a product passed or failed inspection.
Mettler Toledo has been introducing new technologies globally, including advanced product-inspection solutions. Are there any new products, technologies or upgrades that the company plans to introduce or expand in the Indian food and beverage market in the near future?
We are continuing to introduce more advanced inspection capabilities in India, particularly in metal detection, x-ray inspection and AI-enabled analysis. The recently launched M50 R-Series is an important development in metal detection. Within the range, the M56R combines Multi-Simultaneous Frequency technology with the advanced 3S PLUS algorithm in an AI-based machine learning process. This helps the system distinguish between the signal created by challenging wet or conductive products and genuine metal contamination, improving detection sensitivity while reducing false rejects.
We are also expanding our advanced x-ray capabilities, including the X56. The X56 DXD+ combines dual-energy x-ray technology with AI-enabled image analysis for more complex inspection applications. Dual-energy technology analyses the product at two different energy levels, helping distinguish potential contaminants from the product itself where factors such as varying densities, overlapping ingredients or irregular presentation can make inspection more difficult.
These developments reflect a broader direction across product inspection, including greater use of intelligent signal and image processing to improve inspection performance while making systems easier and more efficient to operate.
How is Mettler Toledo helping food and beverage manufacturers improve sustainability by reducing product waste, material usage, and energy consumption through accurate weighing and inspection technologies?
Sustainability and production efficiency are closely linked. Reducing product giveaway, false rejects and unnecessary waste can lower costs while also helping manufacturers make better use of raw materials, packaging and energy.
Intelligent checkweighing plays an important role. By continuously monitoring pack weights, manufacturers can identify overfilling and make adjustments to filling processes, helping reduce the amount of product unnecessarily given away over a production run. Inspection accuracy matters too. Improved metal detection and x-ray performance can reduce unnecessary false rejects, meaning less good product is removed from the line and wasted.
Energy consumption is also being addressed through equipment design. Sustainability targets are now incorporated into all new Mettler Toledo product development, with consideration given to areas such as power consumption, materials and the overall equipment lifecycle.
The wider aim is to look beyond the energy consumed by an individual inspection machine. More precise and reliable production helps manufacturers reduce waste throughout the process, so the resources already used to produce, package and move a product are used more effectively.
Looking ahead, which food and beverage segments in India offer the biggest growth opportunities for Mettler Toledo, and what are the company’s priorities for strengthening its presence in the Indian market?
One of the biggest opportunities is among India’s growing and emerging food manufacturers that are reaching the point where they need to move from manual or basic quality controls towards automated inspection. This is less about one particular food category and more about the stage a manufacturer has reached in its development. As production volumes increase, businesses need quality-control processes that are repeatable, reliable and capable of operating at line speed.
Entry-level inspection technologies therefore have an important role. The X12, for example, is an x-ray inspection system for packaged food products that can detect a range of physical contaminants, depending on the application, while also supporting product and packaging integrity checks. It provides an accessible route into automated x-ray inspection for manufacturers looking to strengthen their quality-control capabilities.
At the same time, India’s larger manufacturers are continuing to invest in higher levels of automation, connectivity and advanced inspection performance.
Our priority is to support both ends of that market. We want to help growing manufacturers take their first steps into automated inspection while continuing to bring more advanced technologies to established producers. Combined with strong local expertise and service support, this gives us significant scope to grow alongside India’s expanding food manufacturing sector.
