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Send to KindleLabeler proves 'berry, berry' good for Fabri-Kal
Besides labor savings the clamshell labeler is considerably speedier than its predecessors. “We do about 180 pieces a minute on the machine versus 70 a minute before on each of the two machines” Osterbuhr estimates.
Another benefit: The new equipment runs more often. “In the past” Osterbuhr recalls “we had consistency problems with our old labelers. They were a maintenance nightmare.”
A major part of the problem was with an ejector unit that took one clamshell from an antiquated magazine and positioned it at the labeling head. The unit often jammed which meant that either the clamshell wouldn’t be dropped into place or more than one clamshell was dropped. And if the magazine was accidentally bumped it had to be realigned. Osterbuhr estimates that both of the old machines were down a total of six to eight hours a week. That limited output and increased costs.
Efficient process
The new machine has eliminated those difficulties. The process begins when a Fabri-Kal employee takes nested clamshells out of a case and places them into a magazine at the beginning of an 8’ infeed conveyor. The conveyor advances clamshells to the center of the machine where Minnesota Automation’s patented secondary-motion rotary system denests them.
A vacuum head assembly uses vacuum cups to pick up the open clamshell from both its top and bottom halves. The cups acquire the clamshell by its interior. The machine rotates the tray up to the labeling station where the label is applied to the clamshell’s exterior. The Label-Aire 2111CD applicator unit blows on the label that’s been peeled from rollstock.
Labeled clamshells are rotated to the machine’s discharge with the vacuum cups depositing the clamshells in a stack on an 8’ outfeed conveyor for case packing.
Unlike Fabri-Kal’s previous system where an operator had to count clamshells before placing them in a case the new system counts clamshells automatically making the process less prone to human error that could result in product giveaway.
Counting is done as a sensor positioned at the labeling station detects each clamshell and relays that information to a programmable logic controller that is preset to count up to a certain number of clamshells. In Fabri-Kal’s case when 75 are reached the machine shuts off for six cycles before proceeding. When the machine stops the operator knows 75 clamshells are in that stack making it easy to track how many clamshells are put into the case. Fabri-Kal typically places 600 nested labeled clamshells into a shipping case.
Cases are transported by a shuttle truck to the thermoformer’s distribution center located about one-half mile from the Greenville plant. The DC then ships to customer locations.
“We’re very satisfied with the new system” Osterbuhr says. “Before we purchased it we did some research and found that Minnesota Automation was the company that made the best equipment [for our job].” Through labor savings reduced downtime faster speeds and increased value to its customers Fabri-Kal’s investment is paying dividends. Osterbuhr reports “We’d buy another one of these.”
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