business has continually cared for the environment with the aim of reducing its carbon footprint. When the time came to invest in new packaging machinery, it was only natural that environmental issues were high on the agenda and as a result, APS Salads chose to install Packaging Automation’s fully electric eclipse tray sealers. The eclipse SL4 has been designed to address the environmental impact of packaging operations by reducing the user’s power consumption by up to 90%.APS Salads’ requirement for tray sealers arose when Tesco requested a pack format change from flow wrapping to heat sealed punnets. After an impressive site visit to an existing PA customer with eclipse machinery the decision was taken to purchase eclipse SL4 machines for the Cheshire and Kent sites. As part of the installation PA also modified APS Salads’ own conveyors to ensure compatibility with the new tray sealers.
The in-line, fully electric SL4 is a small footprint machine capable of sealing 60 packs per minute. Featuring PA’s PowerdriveTM technology, the SL4 is a fully electric machine and operates without using any compressed air, therefore offering savings of up to 98% of the running costs of conventional pneumatically operated tray sealers. This enables tomato producers to demonstrate a real commitment to environmental issues, whilst delivering a competitive operating cost
David Pearson Group Facilities Director said “Our overall experience of PA has been first class; from the first initial contact to the installation and commissioning of the lines, I have been very impressed.”
