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Send to KindleBulk-packed Craisins pick up the pace
Emerging from the drier a Key belt conveyor takes fruit to an overhead level. There a pneumatic gating device sends fruit down one of two Key vibratory conveyors. One leads to the Ishida combination scale on the bulk line the other leads to two horizontal form/fill/seal pouching systems from Klöckner (Sarasota FL). Depending on marketplace requirements Ocean Spray can direct product to any one packaging machine or to all three at once.
On the bag-in-box side the Craisins move through a bulk-and-dribble vibration process until they tumble onto the dispersion cone of the Ishida scale. The product fans out to 10 weigh buckets and the automated system selects which combination of buckets to dump as well as how many dumps are needed to fill a case.
Upstream from the filler are case-erecting and bag-inserting machines. The case erector is a Model WFT from Wexxar (Delta British Columbia Canada) selected largely for its ability to reliably handle the heavy double-wall corrugated cases specified by Ocean Spray.
From several suppliers the RSC case is made of 350#-test B/C-flute corrugated. With material this heavy the case blanks must be firmly and positively grasped if case forming and bottom taping is to proceed smoothly. So rather than relying on vacuum pickup cups to pull blanks from the magazine and square the blank into a case the WFT uses a forming system that relies on a series of pin-and-dome fixtures mounted on the plates of the forming jaw. At each of these fixtures several steel pins enter the fluting and press against the steel dome. Only then does the forming jaw swing open erecting the blank from its knocked-down position. The result is an unfailing grip on the linerboard.
Bag insertion
Erected cases make a right angle turn into an automated bag inserter from Pearson Packaging Systems (Spokane WA). Roll-fed gussetted bags are made of a 4-mil blend of low- and high-density polyethylene. The machine uses vacuum cups to pull a bag open and tear it along its perforation line to separate it from the roll. The bag-opening arm then plunges into the bag opens it fully inserts it and retracts for the next cycle.
As boxes exit the filling station they make another right-angle turn to enter a Pearson uncuffer /flap closer. In its first station mechanical fingers close in along the sides of the box just below the point where the bag cuff ends. The fingers then rise straight up bringing the plastic bag material with them.
Next as the case is conveyed forward its major flaps are plowed down along the sides of the case. This allows mechanical side folders from opposite sides to stroke in and fold one side of the bag over the other. The case indexes forward again and as it does the major flaps return to their vertical position.
Next is another right angle turn this time into a top taper from Pearson. Cases discharge from the taper into a pressure sensitive labeler. The Model 400 Final Touch thermal-transfer print-and-apply unit from NJM/CLI (Lebanon NH) applies date and production code information. Manual palletizing is all that remains.
The new line’s circular configuration means that typically just one or two people are required to operate it. “The loop configuration not only fit our available space but also minimizes the amount of walking an operator must do” says Frenz. “About all the operators do is feed box stock and stack finished cases” says Frenz.
Installed last May the new line was quickly integrated into the Tomah plant. Senior project engineer Lowder gives some of the credit to Packaging Management (Hartford WI) a line integrator and equipment manufacturer representative. “We were able to review a lot of equipment options with them and visit machinery manufacturers like Wexxar and Pearson” says Lowder. “Their assistance enabled us to cover a lot of ground quickly.”
It’s a good thing too because there was no time to waste.
“We shut down the packaging of these bulk cases completely until the new line was installed” says Frenz. “That meant we didn’t have a lot of time for this not to run. But the transition was very smooth and at this point we feel we’ve achieved all of our objectives.”
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