Method and apparatus for slicing products

An apparatus (10) for slicing products (12), comprising:

• a product support (14) along which a plurality of products (12) can be supplied next to one another in a respective product track to a cutting plane (16) in which a cutting blade moves, wherein the products (12) can be brought into engagement with respective product conveyors (22) which can be traveled independently of one another in and against the product supply direction (Z) relative to the supply unit (24);
• a control apparatus (34) is provided which is configured to offset the products (12) in a stepped manner relative to one another via the product conveyors (22) in the product supply direction (Z) in that, starting from a first product (121), the further products (122-12n) arranged next to it at at least one side are each set back up to the respective outermost product (12n) by a respective amount (x) against the product supply direction (Z), and indeed further than the respective preceding product;
• a respective light barrier (38, 40) having a monitored zone and a lateral sensor is associated with each product track, said light barrier being arranged at a defined spacing from the cutting plane (16) and the monitored zone (42) extending transversely to the product supply direction (Z);
• and
• the control device (34) is further configured to travel the products (12) via a common supply unit (24) toward the light barriers (38, 40) at a defined speed to detect the positions of the product starts (36) with respect to the cutting plane (16) via the light barriers (38, 40), to determine the differences in the detected positions of the product starts (36) relative to one another and to travel the product conveyors (22) relative to one another for aligning the product starts (36) with the cutting plane (16) such that the determined relative positional differences of the product starts (36) are cancelled.