WAR ON WASTE

 

 

 Product Recovery

 

 There are a number of reasons why faulty packages especially in the food and confectionery industry need to be unpacked.  This may be necessary due to machine start-up waste, wrong coding, best-before-use date overdue, under-or overfilling etc.  It would be too expensive to unpack such material manually or to completely throw away the product.

The German made PACK-SAVER range of Product Recovery Machines from LEU-TRONIC (www.Leu-Tronic.de) are designed to allow a clean separation of product from its packaging material.  The PACK-SAVER does not work with knives, but using adjustable tear-off rails to open the packages.  Due to the rail rotation and the special shape of the assorting chamber, an air-stream is produced which “blows” the empty wrapping material out of the machine.  The product is then transported to a vibration sieving device, where an exhausting device separates small wrapper particles from the product, which then can be re-processed and used again.

Depending on product, a capacity of up to 400kg per hour can be achieved.  Only one operator is needed to control a PACK-SAVER.

Typical products which are being recovered are;

coffee, tea, sugar, confectionery, chewing gum, chocolate bars, biscuits, crisps, detergent tablets etc.

For further information call

Springvale Equipment Ltd – 01420 542505 – www.springequip.co.uk

Robust Economical Machines

Feige are well known around the world for their quality filling machines for bulk containers from 25 litres up to 1000 litres but now have a new range known as Slimline for those companies wanting a robust machine without being loaded with extra features. www.feige.com

 

The prices are equally “slimline” as follows:

Slimline 4 for 25 litre containers             ex works Germany €9,375

Slimline 9 for 200 litre drums                  ex works Germany €11,875

Slimline 8 for IBC’s                                ex works Germany €13,125

 

Keeping with the economy theme we also represent Pack’R who specialise in weigh filling machines for containers from 1 litre – 25 litre and they too have launched a range of filler/cappers for straight forward projects needing a reliable monobloc filler/capper. www.packr.com

 

There are two machines in this range: a 6 head or an 8 head filling turret both with a single capping station.  The standard machine will include:

*Weigh filling technology with gravimetric tank

*Product infeed valve controlled by a level detector

*Capping station (screw or press-on cap)

*Motorised conveyor 3m in length

*Guards with interlocked doors (CE)

*Tooling for 1 container/1 cap (option for additional tooling for other containers)

*Siemens plc

                        6 head               8 head

1 litre or less                 50cpm                50cpm

2 litre                           40cpm                50cpm

5 litre                           20cpm                30cpm

10 litre                          14cpm                20cpm  (only cylindrical on this range)

 

Budget Price for 6 head filler/capper                    ex works France €85,000

Budget Price for 8 head filler/capper                    ex works France €100,000

 

Options available include CIP, coloured touch screen, statistics and production report, diving nozzles, cap elevator, click & play tooling, buckets.

 

              

                    

 

 

 

 

 See us at the PPMA show at the NEC from 30^th Sept – 2^nd October Hall 5 Stand D80

www.springequip.co.uk register for your free tickets  www.ppmashow.co.uk/springvale

LANGENPAC LAUNCH NEW ENTRY LEVEL CARTONING MACHINE

With the launching of the stainless steel continuous CHINOOK cartoner in 2002, Langenpac has initiated the birth of a new generation of cartoning machines, featuring particularly fast size change over, easy cleaning and reduced maintenance requirements.

The “CHINOOK-family” has grown bigger in 2006 when the smaller footprint machines VENTO and BREEZE were launched. Using the same technology of the BREEZE, since 2007 the CHINOOK is also available in an intermittent motion version, the ZEPHYR.

Many machines have found their way to a multitude of markets where hygiene and state of the art design machines create added value to it’s users. Besides biscuits and chocolates, also the frozen food and tissue markets have demonstrated the success of this machine series.

Having started in the 90’s with an entry level cartoner, this machine has proved its usefulness in many applications where customers wanted to launch a new product or needed temporary extra cartoning capacity.

With the actual dynamics in the market where new products are requested more and more often, Langenpac has decided to complete its range of New Generation cartoners with a modern entry level machine allowing high flexibility at a low investment level, corresponding to its application.

This machine will be launched at Interpack 2008 (booth 6 D37) www.interpack.com.

For further info please contact Springvale Equipment Ltd – www.springequip.co.uk –  01420 542505 or visit Langenpac’s website www.langenpac.com.

New high-performance packaging systems

ORBIS for open-mouth bags and impeller packer with integrated metal detector for valve bags.  

German packaging specialist will soon launch its new filling system ORBIS, for open-mouth bags that have been specially developed for the filling of powdery products at hourly rates of more than 500 bags with filling weights of 25 kg.

The demand of the international food industry for hygienic filling of powdery products into open-mouth bags at rates of more than 500 bags per hour has increased, as the valve bag has not been convincing for all products. The packaging machine manufacturers are confronted with the challenge that powdery products, just as flour, baking ingredients, starch, yeast, etc. cannot be filled as easily and efficiently as granules. Everybody knows powders are dusty. Optimum filling results can only be attained with the right filling system. The relation between low-air filling, dust-tight filling spout and efficient product de-aeration are of utmost importance, but influence the machine output.   

The new packaging system ORBIS made by BEHN+BATES guarantees both the efficient hygienic filling of powdery products, as well as high machine outputs of up to 600 bags per hour. It can handle all of the common bag types, just as gusseted and flat bags made of paper, PE or combinations thereof. It is equipped with 3, 4 or 6 filling spouts.  

The machine to be shown at Interpack 2008 (hall 12, stand 12D08/E07) is equipped with 4 filling spouts that work independently from each other thus making it possible to carry out the individual filling steps (bag application, coarse-flow filling, fine-flow filling and bag discharge) simultaneously. This results in shorter cycles and higher machine outputs. The individual filling steps are optimally synchronized. 

The empty bags are separated at their bottom,  then guided through the modern empty bag magazine by the optimized high-speed singling station. Thus, a controlled bag opening and a secure bag placing by a servo-driven applicator arm to the filling spout is guaranteed. The product is filled according to the gross system, i. e. the bags are weighed during the filling process. Height-adjustable bottom vibrators provided in an encapsulated design, due to the severe hygienic prescriptions in the food industry, assure that the bags are optimally compacted. The results are stable bags that can be easily stacked and a perfect pallet shape being of utmost importance for the product marketing.   

After the filling the bag is taken off the filling spout and transferred to the discharge unit. The filled bags are closed either by folding, sewing, sealing, gluing, hot-melt activation or combinations thereof. The chosen type of closing systems depends on the individual customer requests. In the food industry the combination of sealing and hot-melt activation has proven its worth as the bags are especially tight then. Humidity, foreign bodies, bugs or similar cannot penetrate the product. Even longer storage times are possible due to the tight closure in combination with an internal PE welding, provided that the right bag material has been chosen.  

Stringent hygienic standards within the food industry were one of the main criteria for the design of the new BEHN+BATES packaging system ORBIS: The filling system is suspended from the top making it easily accessible for cleaning purposes underneath the filling spouts. In addition, the machine bottom is completely closed and the energy cables are laid outside the dust area. The access doors made of security glass are flush with the machine frame. Possible dust deposit areas are reduced to a minimum. 

The ORBIS system, BEHN+BATES, is perfectly prepared for the future. Again and again new convincing packaging designs for the food industry arise from the combination of tradition and innovation.

Further information is available from SPRINGVALE EQUIPMENT LTD

UNIFILL – ENDLESS INNOVATION

UNIFILL SRL of Italy remain the unchallenged world leader in the manufacturing of Vertical Thermoform Fill & Seal machines for monodoses and single portion packs for food, pharmaceutical, chemical and personal care applications.  Currently they are working on two new ambitious projects that will extend the UNIFILL range of equipment into two important market segments: the low output on one side and the large filling capacity on the other.

These two new machine models, which are expected to fill an existing gap, are to be officially launched at INTERPACK 2008 (Hall B, Booth G-39 April 24-30) Dusseldorf, Germany. 

Full technical and commerical details have not yet been disclosed but a brief resume can be found below.

UNIFILL TF-400 is a hi-tech machine suitable for the production of multiple use containers with volumes ranging from 100 up to 400ml, at speeds reaching up 200 units/minute.  Thanks to it’s modular concept the TF-400 could be set-up to produce finished filled & capped containers or empty spouted containers ready to be filled and capped on conventional lines.

Soft or thick plastic materials – to produce pouch like, or bottle like containers can be used with a thickness ranging between 150 and 600 microns, depending on the requirements of application.

UNIFILL TF-K is a highly compact machine designed for particularly price sensative applications as well as for projects with limited output requirements, without compromising the technical standard levels.  The TF-K benefits from all the innovative features, and the reliability that characterises all UNIFILL machines.  Special care has been put in the selection of materials and technical solutions, the result is a machine that is essential, cost effective and easy to operate.

The TF-K is the machine that should finally make the UNIFILL technology widely accessible.

Further information on UNIFILL’s range of machinery can be obtained from Springvale Equipment Ltd www.springequip.co.uk or contacting 01420 542505.

Vertical Cartoning & Tube Filling Machinery

Specifically designed to suit the demands of the Spirit Industry, Langenpac now offer 2 vertical packaging machines to pack spirit bottles into either gift cartons or composite tubes.  We are delighted that both styles of machine have been ordered and will be delivered into the UK this year.

 

The vertical cartoning machine has been designed and built on the knowledge gained over many years on their existing horizontal style, but offers many benefits including a smaller footprint and the ability to handle a much wider range of different bottle shapes and sizes with differing degrees of label protection and cartons of differing carton board material and finishes.    The vertical cartoning machine runs at up to 200 bottles/min and the vertical tube filling machine runs at up to 250 bottles/min if filling into tubes. 

On both machine styles bottles are lifted and placed into erected cartons or tubes by means of a diaphragm pick and place system.  Leaflet feeding can be supplied following bottle placing by either a simple system to fire the leaflets into the carton or a more sophisticated placing system for larger leaflets or booklets, which are wrapped and placed around the neck of the bottle.

Langenpacs’ knowledge of handling such applications has grown and a number of specialist features have evolved to ensure that bottles and cartons are packed without damage in a reliable and repeatable way.

Quick and simple changeovers have become more and more important due to shorter run lengths, along with assistance in carton blank loading, to protect and reduce the labour needed to operate these machines.

Further information is available from Springvale Equipment Ltd, Langenpac’s UK/Ireland Agent.  Tel: 01420 542505. www.springequip.co.uk

  

REPUTATIONS – STAY SAFE & FLEXIBLE

Buy with confidence, for many years now Bossar have built on their already proven reputation within the cosmetics and toiletries industry amongst others.

With many installations amongst some of the larger companies in the UK Bossar’s machinery has packaged a wide range of cosmetics and toiletries into sachets.  One such installation is within Madison Cosmetics of Ireland for the packaging of a powder into a four sided seal flat sachet.  The beauty of this machine currently fitted with a simplex auger filler for powdered products and small granules is its flexibility, small footprint and small cost.   Emphasising on its flexibility the Bossar machine can have the auger easily replaced with a pump for liquid applications, for this reason Bossar have sold over 80% of these machines to Contract Packers.

Recently launched and out now on the shelves is a range of exciting, luxurious and devilishly scrummy bath& shower products which have been produced on a Bossar machine for a well known multi national toiletries company. These products are in a stand up pouch fitted with a push-pull corner valve making ease of use a priority. This 250ml pouch size is 100mm x 170mm and runs at 90ppm.

Further information is available from their UK agents

Springvale Equipment Ltd – Tel: 01420 542505.  www.springequip.co.uk

CARTONING GOES ROBOTIC

The need for flexibility in packing machinery becomes more and more apparent. And flexibility is exactly one of the most obvious qualities that follows out of the integration of robotics in packaging machinery.  Overall, we have begun to see customer acknowledgement that robotics offer a level of flexibility not inherent in dedicated packaging machinery.  Robotics allows a company to rededicate their capital asset, in this case the robot and often conveyance, to other or new product configurations.  For example, a producer now packing chocolate bars  in a single stack configuration can switch to a multiple stack configuration or even a display carton, effectively moving from consumer packing to display packing. This sort of inter-functional flexibility can be invaluable particularly if you are in a market whose products have short life-cycles, or if your packaging and delivery frequently change.  

Another asset of robotic feeding is that the robot can also be used to include a buffer system in the line. When the down stream machine has stopped, the upstream machine can continue producing since the robot will not feed the products to the stopped machine but to a FILO buffer conveyor. Once the machine has restarted, the robot will feed products alternatively coming from the production line mixed with products fed back from the buffer system, thus enhancing the line efficiency in a remarkable way.  Now that’s using your capital wisely.

 Looking to the future, it seems that the obstacle to further growth is more human, not technological. People are comfortable with what they know (conventional machinery) and see new ideas as risky.  It’s Langenpac’s job to show just how reliable and sensible robots can be in the right situation and application.  Sometimes conventional packaging is the best answer, but sometimes so many opportunities are missed by believing that there must be only one way to do something.  

The next innovation? More foresight in the robotic controller so that production spikes or lulls are anticipated by the robot and its behaviour then gets regulated to smooth out the line productivity. This goes hand-in-hand with tighter integration with MIS systems and richer data collection.  

Langenpac NV (www.langenpac.com) designs, manufactures and integrates the components required to put products in cartons. Our services include system installation, production support, training and machine rentals.  We offer innovative robotic solutions, standard packaging machinery, custom infeeds and line integration. 

For more information on Langenpac contact Springvale Equipment Ltd – 01420 542505 www.springequip.co.uk

Quick change Stickpack Machines give variety of pack sizes

Two new fast size change stickpack machines were annouced by Springvale Equipment, UK representative for the Italian manufacturer Boato Pack.

There are two machines in the range, the six lane Tornado S6 and the four lane Tornado S4, whereby for both machines size changeover is acheived simply by exchanging the forming tubes, loading a new reel of appropriate width material and resetting the pitch of the slitter knives to create six or four webs to suit the new pack width.

Length is set from the control panel by adjusting the servo motor driving the draw down mechanism, while dosing is via tangential flow volumetric doser or separately controlled augers for powders and servo driven pump for liquids.

The Boato Pack S6 is able to produce stickpacks from 17mm up to 50mm flat stick width and is aimed in particular at contract packers.  Typically it is able to produce 22mm diameter sticks of coffee powder, 35mm diameter sticks of cappuccino powder and also 50mm sticks of drinking chocolate.  Maximum stick length is 200mm and speed is up to 60 packs a minute per lane.  The liquid version machine can be used for sweet and savoury sauces; alcohol; yogurt – 50ml of product typically running at 35 – 40 sticks per minute per lane and smaller volumes up to 60 per minute per lane.

 The S4 machine offers stick widths of 30-100mm and can produce a pack up to 200mm long.  Depending on the dosing arrangements, cycle speed can be up to 60 a minute producing packs of products such as washing powder or prepared sauces at speeds up to 240 a minute.  Good seal quality is achieved by having sperate jaws each individually adjustable for temperature and pressure.  Most important, point out Springvale, both machines offer high output from a footprint of 1900 x 2000 x 1850mm.

Semi-automatic compact cartoning machine proves successful at this years TOTAL Processing & Packaging Show

It is nearly impossible to imagine a compact cartoning machine which runs at a maximum speed of 50 cycles/min.  Needs nearly 1sqm space, has the largest size range of its class, offers the highest flexibility and the shortest change over times and all this at an affordable price.

Well it’s true, this machine really does exist and proved of great interest at the recent Total Processing & Packaging show resulting in the machine on the stand being sold  to a contract manufacturer for packing cosmetic products.    The COMPACT 4/S with mechanical drive and up to three stations for vertical manual or full-automatic product filling is manufactured by U-E-T Bernd Siebler in Karlsruhe, Germany.

   

The compact 4/S carries out all usual jobs of a conventional cartoning machine: erection, and opening of each box, product filling (manually, half or full automatically), closing of the box (by tuck-in, hot melt, and combinations), coding (embossing, hot-foil, ink-jet), automatic feeding of prefolded leaflets, etc..

The patented and worldwide well known universal adjustable size-star stella 68 enables the user to carry out a change over in under 15 minutes.  This means a saving of money for all these users who have to handle different box sizes on the same machine and offers flexibility also for future tasks.

This infinitely adaptable size module makes it suitable for various cross-shapes and heights of cartons.

Further information can be found at www.springequip.co.uk or www.u-e-t.de