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Choosing the right packaging machine 2009-06-08
More than ever, today's food process industries are looking for increased line production and minimum yield loss. The use of proper packaging machine is important in obtaining production efficiencies in operations. A variety of factors must be considered before the correct packaging machine can be determined.
Identifying the right machine There are many steps for selection of Vertical Form Fill Seal Machine (VFFS) packaging machines but the first step is to identify the machine that is suitable for your product characteristics. The knowledge of the product behaviour and the appropriate packing material is very important while designing and building a machine. Along with this the below factors are equally important:
1. Material of construction (MOC) as per HACCP norms 2. Film wastage percentage 3. Product leakage percentage 4. Machine efficiency 5. Warranty terms and conditions 6. Service support for maintenance and in case of breakdown 7. Whether machine is easy to clean, lubricate and trouble shoot 8. Whether machine is fatigueless to operator 9. What is running cost [electricity, air and consumables] 10. 'Change over time' is less or more 11. What is Mean Time To Repair (MTTR) and Mean Time Before Failure (MTBF)
To maintain hygiene of the packaging machine or system the same should be designed in such a way that it can be cleaned easily. The product handling parts are required to have specific finish and MOC. The design of these parts requires special attention, so that after the cleaning of the system/product contact parts, residual product content is almost nil. For longer shelf life of the products like snack foods, precise and consistent level of nitrogen in the pack has to be maintained.
Snack food application Newer and better packaging machinery and appliances have all advanced in an integrated manner. While packaging of snack foods, puffed snacks or potato chips, care should be taken to avoid yield loss. It is essential that the packaging machinery is suitable and in good condition for filling and sealing in order to reduce contamination.
At pace with rapid industrialisation and improvement in transportation methods, packaging standards would have to be reviewed periodically, so as to have an economical and effective packaging, which is so vital in international and domestic trade too.
Major problems that may crop up while handling snack food â– Variation in bulk density â– Seasoning lumps â– Sticky nature of seasoning â– Product size variation through extruder
Pouch packing machine As a cohesive team of designers Nichrome believes in challenging perceptions, rejuvenating prototype and building astute solutions. Looking at the concepts that might be far fetched and saying- why not? Is the foundation of our approach? Exploring, analysing and implementing packaging machines solutions over the years, has lead to the creation of a process that blueprints "Intelligent Packaging".
Earlier there was no solution for high speed machines except imported machines. Now Nichrome has developed Excel 250 machine which is perfectly suitable for snack food, potato chips, extruded products, confectionary items, pastas & macaronis and light-weight products. Having technology based on continuous web movement and vertical sealing, product stripping action and vacuum film pulling, this machine can pack up to 120 packs per minute in combination with suitable multi-head weigher. This value for money option is available for snack food, extruded and potato/banana chips and confectionary manufacturers.
Effective nitrogen flushing into the pouch is provided in Excel 250 packaging machine. The bagging operation ensures that the pouches produced on the packaging machine have good seal strength, seal integrity, oxygen <2%, batch printing at proper location, easy tear and easy perforation etc. This excel 250 machine is equipped with attachment like poker, stripping, online high speed printer fitment arrangement, nitrogen flushing unit with monitoring etc.
The advantage of this machine is that the stripping provision is built-in, so that the same machine can be used for extruded as well as potato chips as and when required.
Stripping action is must for the light-weight products like potato chips which tend to build hip in the pouch and need to be pushed down before top sealing. Other world benchmarking features of this machine are - stripping action is adjustable and user-friendly and bloating of the pouch can be adjusted as per user's protocol. Jumbo roll up to 50kg can be loaded on film roll spindle to minimise changeover time and wastage. For vertical continuous sealing, no seal belt is used hence zero running cost for expensive heat seal belts, uniform temperature and adjustable jaw pressure helps for no leakage at high attitude area. The machine is clad in transparent enclosures that makes easy the daily inspection and to seize the abnormalities quickly.
Key factors to be considered â– Better shelf life of the product packed â– Hygienic conditions of the plant and machines
Packaging material The selection of packaging material is very important to give strong moisture barrier to the packed product, MET PET/BOPP as well as aluminum foil can be used to better Moisture Vapour Transmission Rate (MVTR) and better sales appeal and consumer preferences.
Poly laminates give better impact and barrier properties where as PET contributes to superior shelf life. Reverse printing as well as surface printing is possible on these films. Generally the film used for snack food product is PET/MET PET/BOPP which gives very good barrier properties that ensure longer shelf life and good aesthetics.
