ed a new, automated feeding and trayless flowrapping system for apples, enabling packhouses to cut packing costs and improve efficiency. The new, integrated packaging system is based on the company’s Carrera 1000/40 flowrapper combined with a Burg feeding system and is capable of packing apples at high speeds of at least 80 packs per minute without bruising or damaging the fruit.The compact, inline packaging line has a modular design, allowing it to be easily adapted to meet the packaging requirements of different packhouses. Because it is a complete feeding and flowrapping system, it requires fewer operators than a conventional packaging line, improving production efficiency and reducing costs.
Designed to produce high quality packs with excellent shelf appeal, the Carrera 1000/40 packaging line is capable of delicately handling all types of apples without bruising. It achieves this by reducing the extent that the fruit moves around throughout the packaging process. Even if there is a wide variation in the size of fruit, the product control system’s features such as no-product-no-bag, misplaced product detection and 64 programme memory are designed to maximise packing line efficiency.
To fully automate the line, Ilapak worked with NP Seymour, the UK agent for Burg, to integrate a Burg feeding system into the flowrapper’s infeed conveyor, resulting in a complete inline system capable of flowrapping apples in a variety of trayless pack styles of four, six, eight or ten as well as trayless packs of three or four inline. Packs can also be produced using acetate or styrene trays or cardboard skillets.
The Burg system can be fed in a variety of ways depending on how the fruit has been stored and transported. For delicate varieties of apple, a water-fed system with drying rollers is most suitable while for hardier varieties a dry box tipper or roller conveyor is usually specified.
Reducing the use of packaging materials by eliminating the need for a tray has important benefits for packhouses. As well as cutting production costs, the trayless format is kinder to the environment and more appealing to the growing number of environmentally conscious consumers.
All Ilapak customers have a full customer service package available to them, including 24/7 customer assistance, a team of UK engineers, a full spares stockholding and a technical department that is open six days a week. Ilapak machines are built using commercially available parts, with no black box technology, so spares are always readily available.
