Flexible and on the shelf

16 January 2007



With ever-shortening product life and marketing and retail demands constantly changing, packer-fillers need end-of-line equipment to match, writes Pauline Covell


“Food is a fashion industry,” says chairman of Bradman Lake Group Graham Hayes. “A lot of products fail; some go on to great success. That is why companies look for a standard machine that can easily change to pack different sizes and styles. Some want shelf-ready packs and some want the standard wraparound case or American case.” In addition to increasing the flexibility to handle different sizes and different products, case packaging technology has moved forward to reduce the time it takes to accommodate size changes, he argues.

“Most companies have already taken out as much labour as possible. The most important thing now is line efficiency; it really is surprising how inefficient some production is. We are frequently asked to come in and run a line and suggest improvements.”

The Group has adapted its machinery over the past three years so it can pack products not only into conventional corrugated cases, but also large trays. “The ability to achieve consistent loading over a prolonged period offers manufacturers the prospect of packing more product at higher speed with greater outputs and increased efficiency,” says the company, which makes robotic top-load case packers, fully automated side load and wraparound case packers, tray packers and shrink bundling through its Bradman Lake and Europack brands.

Since adding Europack to the business the Group's philosophy has been to change the company from a bespoke into an export model. “We have been refining rather than redesigning the equipment,” said Graham Hayes. The plan is to take some of the robotic know-how at Bradman Lake and combine that with the case packing knowledge at Europack. The company is continuously updating the product range by expanding robotic pick and place techniques. “Using both multi-axis robots and servo-motors, we are able to create more complex collations to place inside cases and distribution trays,” explains Hayes.

Retail demand for shelf-ready secondary packs (SRP) is nothing new, especially in Germany, where stores have appreciated their contribution to shelf filling efficiency for many decades, but it is gathering momentum in the UK. “Everyone wants to talk about SRP,” confirms Hayes. “It can be the case that splits and opens out, or a shelf-ready tray, either shrinkwrapped or high-sided. Huge improvements in print have transformed the brown box.” Two installations illustrate the trend. Ten Europack shrink/tray wrappers in a £1m plus makeover of end-of-line packaging at Twinings' teabag plant on Tyneside, UK provide a range of SRP options. Each machine will collate cartons and produce tight film shrinkwraps or erect minimum depth trays and load and shrinkwrap them in single or twin face packs at speeds up to 30/min. Eight possible carton collations range from single face 1 x 4 to 2 x 6 twin shelf-ready formats.

In addition, changeovers are claimed to take only 15 minutes. And at P Z Cussons a Europack casepacker handles both 500 and 750ml sizes of Morning Fresh washing-up liquid in PET bottles, controlling the infeed, collating them into 4 x 4 format, and forming shelf-ready cases from pre-printed corrugated blanks. The machine seals them in a continuous flow at speeds of up to 300 bottles/min. As well as providing robust protection in transit, the cases are “simply converted into attractive, rapidly loaded, shelf displays by unzipping and removing the top and sides”.

What else can we expect from the Group? “We would like to add palletisers; watch this space,” reveals Graham Hayes.

Paal Verpackungsmaschinen first introduced shelf-ready packaging equipment to the market in 1985. Its Elematic Combipack two-piece tray and hood design has since proved one of its biggest successes. Ceo Claus Paal says it is important for machinery producers to offer equipment which permits a range of packaging styles for shelf-ready packs. “Paal machines now produce the Elematic Combipack as standard, together with wraparound, tray or décolleté case styles. Changeover between the different styles is easy, fast and reliable,” says the Paal ceo.

David Wilson, from Paal's UK and Irish agent CC Automation, adds: “Of real interest is the so called One Touch system, where the case is placed on the shelf and the lid comes off. It is inserted rather than being glued.” Wilson too is emphatic about the need to be adaptable at the end of the line. “Every machine we supply now has to have a feature for a two-piece case or full wrap with tear-off or RSC American case with perforation. There is also talk of a sleeve style.”

Top-loading has proved a great success at Paal. Here again it is flexibility in product handling and collation that makes the difference. The company says it recognises the benefits of integrating robots and robotic systems into its range in response to the growing trend for automated packaging machinery and factory automation.”

Wilson says: “Our fastest growth area is the Elematic 6000 Top-Loading Pick and Place systems; our r&d and manufacturing departments are paying particularly close attention to these machines' development. Key to everything is flexibility - something that especially applies to top-loading systems. As product lifecycles and packaging styles become shorter this reflects on the capital investment in machinery.” He continues: “When selecting machinery it is important to know whether it can easily adapt to future changes yet still maintain a commercial advantage.”

The Elematic 6000 series Top-Loader modules feed, orientate, pre-group and collate products using grippers or vacuum suction. Paal claims to lead the field in the design of product handling and robotic gripper or vacuum head units for a variety of packs, from rigid containers to pouches and sachets. Product handling can be enhanced by camera recognition. Once the collation has been made it is picked up and then placed in to the secondary packaging - wraparound, RSC, thermoformed tray and two-piece SRP. “The robot modules are supplied in multi-axis (4 or 6 axes) configurations, which provide a greater range of movements and a wider range of pack styles,” Wilson explains.

Multi- and mixed packs of different varieties is also something that end-of-line machinery companies have had to address. “The advent of the mini-store and convenience shop has meant that the retailer needs variety, but not large amounts of each flavour,” Wilson explains.

Paal has designed and built numerous lines for packing mixed packs and multi-variety packs using robotic handling and packaging systems for the food, confectionery and petfood industries. Some are producing many of the multipacked petfood pouches with four to six different flavours in one SRP.

The latest development is the Elematic 1000VC 6000F, a continuous motion patent pending top-loading system. RSC cases are erected and placed into a continuously moving lug conveyor and the products are then picked and placed into the cases using line tracking for greater accuracy. Depending on pack format the system can run at up to 100 cases/min.

CC Automation also represents palletising specialist Lorenz Pan in the UK and Ireland. It has recently installed two high-level infeed type M6G palletisers to handle a ready meal pizza product. The systems include: product conveyor with line crossing, empty pallet de-stacker, pallet handling, layer sheet applicators, full pallet stacker to stack half height pallets, pallet wrapper for 2.8m high pallets and associated handling conveyors. The PLC control systems are linked together via a Profibus and an operator interface and touch panel.

The company supplies both layer and robotic palletisers. “For this application, where limited space was available, as with many installations in the food industry, the layer palletiser was the best solution,” reports David Wilson.

Tony Hacker, managing director of Endoline Machinery, believes the company's biggest challenge by far in 2006 was helping customers to deal with the demands of SRP. With retailers pushing their suppliers to deliver product in this format he says: “Our team of engineers has found several innovative ways to ease the pain of becoming shelf-ready. One of the simplest solutions is low wipedown tapeheads. Retailers insist that the tape on the shelf-ready case does not cover the perforations on the detachable section, to ensure the packaging can be used to its full potential. The standard wipedown of 55mm was therefore too high.”

Endoline can offer tapeheads with a wipedown as low as 30mm front and back, and can also modify wipedown on the trailing end of the case so that it is fed into the machine as low as 20mm. Sales have increased significantly over the past year and Endoline sees this trend continuing in the foreseeable future.

“We didn't necessarily need to come up with brand new machinery to help customers become shelf-ready,” concedes Hacker. “The use of standard packaging designs and materials means shelf-ready packs can be introduced rapidly with minimal effect on the customer's current operation. Low packaging costs can be maintained whilst creating attractive packs that meet today's retailer requirements, often for less capital expenditure than expected.

“One innovative idea for hood and tray loading makes use of our existing range of case erectors, pick and place packing machines and tray erectors. Basically we have turned the normal packaging process on its head. First the 221 case erector erects the lid, the product is then loaded using the 310 pick and place machine, and, finally the 500 series erects the case and the base is applied.

“For example, a major UK-based snack food manufacturer has recently installed a standard Endoline 200 series case erector to handle its new premade, two-part cases specifically designed to be shelf-ready,” explains Hacker, “while a producer of savoury pies and pasties recently installed a higher-speed 221 case erector specially designed to handle a new, smaller-shelf ready pack style at much higher speeds. This has not only increased line speeds, but also helped improve quality and consistency of the case's appearance - something increasingly important with shelf-ready packaging.”

According to Aetna UK, 2006 is on course to be a record year for sales of its Robopac pallet stretchwrapping range of equipment. Aetna claims it has achieved a real growth of 10% in sales of its smaller semi-automatic systems, bringing unit sales to about 350 for the first time. The largest order was for 22 systems from a major brewer.

Md Mark Tucker says “We are a machinery company with in-depth knowledge of film and its detailed application, which means we can provide impartial advice to the end user where, frequently, material costs far outweigh the capital purchase.” He adds: “I firmly believe our success is based on the fact that we study, analyse and evaluate the problem and then find the best solution.”

Robotics were everywhere at the November PMMI Pack Expo show in Chicago. The PMMI reports, in its recent Packaging Intelligence brief on Automation Trends: “With demand growing for ways to differentiate products, new introductions have sky-rocketed, and pack patterns and sizes continually evolve. Delivering these variations in a timely manner requires flexibility and quick changeover that can only be accomplished with automated equipment.”

It adds: “Packagers are using more robotic systems, performing more tasks by software and demanding more tightly integrated machines while keeping a firm rein on costs.” Recent statistics from the US's Robotic Industry Association reveal that sales of packaging and palletising robots rose by approximately113 per cent between 2000 and 2005.

Kuka Robotics demonstrated at Pack Expo its “order picking by layer” concept using a high payload KR 500 robot fitted with a specialised end-of-arm order-picking/ depalletising head and mixed pallet building software. It is claimed to be the world's strongest industrial robot capable of handling up to a 570kg payload, a capability needed to handle the increased weights presented by layers of products.

"Order picking by layer is vital to manufacturers who need to tailor orders on the pallet level to more efficiently and quickly fulfil mixed product orders," said Kevin Kozuszek, director of marketing for KUKA Robotics Corp. He told Packaging Today: “The USA is becoming much more like Europe in that packaging has to be on-demand. It is not just about picking up and moving things, but also what to pick up and when to pick it up. For this we can also integrate a vision system. Mixed load pallets will streamline distribution efforts and reduce the cost to ship product to both retail outlets and end-users."

The six-axis KR 500 robot is capable of handling a payload up to 570kg, has a reach of up to 3,326 mm and will be fitted with a specialised head. The mixed layer pallet concept will be ideally suited to manufacturers receiving pallet orders containing mixed products such as food and beverage producers.


A petfood pouch assortment handled by a Paal robotic line A petfood pouch assortment handled by a Paal robotic line
Paal's SRP equipment has proved successful in the food industry Paal's SRP equipment has proved successful in the food industry
Kuka demonstrated its mixed order picking concept at Pack Expo Kuka demonstrated its mixed order picking concept at Pack Expo
At P Z Cussons a Europack casepacker from Bradman Lake ... At P Z Cussons a Europack casepacker from Bradman Lake ...
Ten Europack shrink/tray wrappers in a £1m plus makeover of ... Ten Europack shrink/tray wrappers in a £1m plus makeover of ...
Paal equipment puts together multiple flavour orders of pizza slices. ... Paal equipment puts together multiple flavour orders of pizza slices. ...


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