The first Proseal CP3™ automatic case packing system to be installed for a customer – Angus Soft Fruits - has now handled over 8 million trays since it started operation a little over a year ago.
The CP3 is in fact the initial prototype model, which was developed at the specific request of Ionut Tirziu, Angus Soft Fruits’ Engineering and Maintenance Manager, who had been unable to find a suitable case- packing solution to meet the growing business’s requirements.
“As a longstanding customer of Proseal, I know the company’s outstanding engineering capabilities and I was able to convince them to use their skills to create a case packing system that would be able to handle trays efficiently and at high speeds,” explained Ionut.
As well as the original machine, Angus Soft Fruits has installed a second Proseal CP3, alongside its existing nine Proseal GT2 and one Proseal GT6eX-Twin tray sealing machines.
“Angus Soft Fruits is leading the market with innovation and efficiencies, which is incredibly important in producing and packing berries,” commented Ionut. “Continual packing innovation is essential to deliver the best quality fruit and efficiently pack to extend shelf life.”
The development of the Proseal CP3 in conjunction with Angus Soft Fruits ideally demonstrates the strong working partnership that exists between the two companies. This same partnership also led Proseal to produce what at the time was its fastest GT6 tray sealing machine, capable of sealing around 250 packs per minute. In addition, Angus Soft Fruits was closely involved in the development of Proseal’s ProVision monitoring system that helps to maximise line performance and efficiency.
As Proseal’s Sales Director Tony Burgess explained: “We fully understand the many challenges involved in soft fruit packing, particularly its seasonality, and therefore the need to maximise throughput, minimise waste and ensure a streamlined operation that gets produce from the field to the retail shelf in the shortest possible time. All our new equipment development work is focused on these requirements.”
For Angus Soft Fruits, the CP3 case packing systems are able to handle the high speeds of the Proseal tray sealing machines. It uses the company’s proven ProMotion tray infeed system to control the flow of trays and enable them to feed continuously into the machine without stopping, filling cases at up to 120 packs per minute.
The introduction of Proseal ProVision meanwhile has enabled Angus Soft Fruits to further improve line performance through the capture and analysing of valuable machine data. This allows the company to identify any line inefficiencies and pinpoint factors that may affect productivity in terms of both personnel and operating procedures, meaning remedial action can be quickly taken.
“Both ProVision and the CP3 case packaging systems have had the same major impact on our operations as when we installed our first Proseal tray-sealing machines back in 2008,” concluded Ionut.
