e of the most interesting packaging surprises at the 2013 Drinktec exhibition, in Munich. It is an innovative system which does not use any glue or shrinking and which presents incredible production flexibility. What ACMI created completely agrees with the marketing expectations which have been moved with the necessity of proposing appealing solutions for the market, along with the production which constantly looks to cater for highly performing systems with rapid payback and total ownership cost as low as possible. EASYPACK is a packaging system capable of producing packs with two, four and six elements with low impact on the environment, reduced energy and material consumption along with an interesting external aspect which is significantly better and somewhat different to the classic shrink wrapped pack. Easypack can handle both round and square bottles, brick and cans in different configurations, be it either the so called logistic 2 pack, which is composed of six units, to the pack which is ready to be positioned on the shop shelves such as the 'fourpack', the pack with four elements or the 'bipack', containing two.
Dimensions
Easypack presents itself with a very compact structure which does not require any particular infeed or outfeed conveyors. This allows for an exceptional level of adaptability when inserting it into any type of layout, be it a new line or existing line requiring the substitution for example of an existing shrinkwrapper.
Configuration
The machine may be configured with two, three or four application heads. The function of every head is defined in the machine's projection phase depending on the desired output. The base configuration foresees one single head for the bipack where as more sophisticated outputs may require an application head for four packs or six packs. The type of configuration depends on the production speed and the type of pack desired. For example, it is possible to construct the Easypack with four bipack heads , which prepare only packs containing two bottles making the most of the maximum production speed, or with two bipack heads and a sixpack head to create a logistic pack composed of three bipacks.
Flexibility and promotion
There is a very interesting aspect which at the current moment is very active and that is the possibility of catering for the various promotional initiatives with extremely contained costs and execution times. It is sufficient to substitute the sleeve in use with the new promotional sleeve and produce the required quantity based on the production schedule. This procedure may be carried out whenever necessary during all phases of the machine work cycle. The sleeve substitution is carried out instantly, offering great flexibility in launching new promotions and handling packs on offer.
Appearance of the pack
Another important aspect not to forget is the quality of the packs produced by the Easypack which is decisively better than a shrinkwrapped pack where the creases are inevitable even with the best shrinkwrappers available. Furthermore, the sleeves applied by the Easypack which make the most use of their elastic property and do not damage the labels applied to the bottles maintaining the outside appearance of the end product. Once the sleeves are removed, the single bottles remain with their original labels perfectly preserved.
Handle application
Easypack may be directly connected to the Viper handle applicator in this way forming a single system for pack formation and handle application. With this configuration the bottling line assumes a very compact aspect as the Easypack along with the handle applicator is positioned immediately at the outfeed of the filling-labelling block, followed by the palletiser with integrated stretchwrapper.
Energy saving
The energy saving is evident, especially if you compare the Easypack with a traditional shrink wrapper. The absence of the oven also improves the operator's work environment.
