Carton Sealers
Trade News / April 1998MainPackaging Digest / April 1998
Packeting grated cheese at 550 ppm F/f/s machine outputs 3.5-gram PVDC/PET packets of Parmesan cheese at speeds up to 550 per minute. Foodservice packets are automatically counted into cases to assist one-person production setup... by Senior Editor Rick Lingle Castle Importing Inc., Ontario, Calif., selected the PDI-IMAR Maxipack SGS8 form/fill/seal machine from Packaging Dynamics Inc. to produce single-serve foodservice packets of Parmesan cheese and crushed red pepper. Castle has specialized in custom blends of hard Italian cheeses for more than 50 years, but the startup of the packeting machine complements its larger sizes of foodservice offerings with portion packets. Capable of producing 640 3.5 .- or 10 - gram packets per minute done 8-up, the mechanically driven PDI-IMAR f/f/s machine is operated by Castle at speeds from 500 and 550 packets per minute. At this rate, the machine and associated case sealer can be run by one operator, according to castle president Vito Borruso. Prior to the startup of the machine in mid '95, Castle did not offer individual foodservice packets of Parmesan. In fact, its closest offering for foodservice accounts was a 5-pound portion of Parmesan cheese. "After a bit of research, I foresaw growth in individual packets of Borruso, noting that the packeting line is now run an average of three days per week. Filler modified Originally intended as an 8-lane gravity-feed system to handle granular sugar, the machine's filler was modified by PDI-IMAR to accept Parmesan cheese. According to PDI sales engineer Mike Sanchez: "It's nearly an off-the-shelf machine." The modification centered on the volumetric filler. Rather than a standard cup style rotary volumetric filler, Castle's filler comprises a nonadjustable, solid rotary cylinder with four cavities designed to dispense the Parmesan cheese over eight lanes and into the 3.5-gram packets. Cylinder speed is timed to film draw. Sanchez notes, since it requires four rotations for every machine cycle. The all-mechanical packeter is also equipped with film registration, with correction done via electric motor. A 15-foot-long auger conveyor carries the cheese from the product bin to the filler hopper. The packeting machine prompts the auger into action via level control sensing on the hopper. After the on-demand auger conveyor transports product into the picketer's hopper, a cylinder rotating at 25 cycles/min dispenses the Parmesan cheese into the packets 8-up. Custom inserts allow Castle to use the same filler cylinder when packeting pepper
Two barrier films Packet film is received in rolls from New Wave Converting, which supplies two film structures, one for each of the products packeted on the machine. The films provide the packeted products with a shelf life of six to seven months. For Parmesan, the 2.75-mil film compresses polyvinylidene chloride-coated polyester laminated to polyethylene. New Wave provides two versions to Castle: a clear version and an opaque version that features a white pigmented PE layer. The structure provides the required moisture and oxygen barriers; Parmesan contains approximately 25% moisture. For crushed red pepper, the moisture barrier structure is 48-ga polyester laminated to PE. Recently, New Wave has supplied Castle the roll-stock film with the PE pigmented white, similar to the opaque film for Parmesan. Black colored, 3/8-inch wide bands across top and bottom mask any bleed through from peeper caught in the seal area. The films are supplied as 35-inch-wide rolls having a 15-inch outer diameter. Capable of printing up to six colors, New Wave flexo-graphically reverse-prints the polyester film in two colors for Parmesan, three for crushed red pepper. Crucial to efficient one-worker operation is a diverting flap, above and below, that automatically directs packet flow into one, then another, pre-erected case once the proper count is reached. Most cases are 200 count, although Castle also packs 500- and 1,000-count cases. Automatic counting, diverting After filling, packets are cut from the web and fall eight at a time to a six-foot-long Model TMA 450 takeaway conveyor supplied by PDI that discharges the packets into a pre-erected case. The end of the conveyor has a divided chute mechanism beneath which two cases are placed side by side. On a signal from the f/f/s packeter after 200 packets are filled--25 cycles of eight packets--a diverting flap directs the packets into the other case. The counter can be set for various amounts. Although Borruso informs PD that about 90 percent of the equipment output comprises 200-count cases, they also run 500-count and , on rare occasions, 1,000-count cases. Designed with top and bottom belt drives, this particular sealer was selected because it accommodates an ink-jet printer on-board for printing onto a case side. That's done by an Alpha Dot Midjet 55 unit that applies production coding in black letters approximately one inch tall.
F/f/s machine- Packaging Dynamics, Box 5332, Walnut Creek, Calif. 94596. 510-938-2711 Case sealer distributor/installer- Freeman Carton Closers, 6905 Oslo Circle Ste A, Buena Park, Calif. 90621 Castle Importing, 1920 Augusta Court, Ontario, Ca. 91761. 909-930-0101 Reprinted from PACKAGING DIGEST April 1998 ? 1998 by CAHNERS BUSINESS INFORMATION |
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