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Send to KindleWrapper stretches Sargento output
Forklift trucks place manually palletized loads onto the infeed. The pallets index into position and the wrap sequence begins. Pallets are wrapped from the bottom up using a three-layer 70-ga cast polyethylene film also from ITW Mima and distributed through PSW.
The revolving carriage design mimics what Sargento had had before which allows taller unstable loads to be wrapped instead of having a rotary turntable design in which the load rotates. Sargento wraps loads that are up to 98’’ high.
A competitive visit
Lubenow saw to it that Sargento got exactly what it wanted...and more. For one thing he arranged a visit by Sargento personnel to Masters Gallery Foods Inc. a competitor cheese packer with a plant in Plymouth to see a similar stretch wrapper in operation. Unlike the brand recognition of Sargento Masters Gallery specializes in private-label packaging.
Nolte characterizes the local in-plant visit as helpful. “It’s always nice to see something up and running” he relates. “It was a smaller model and didn’t have the outfeed setup of ours but it gave us a good idea about the main piece of equipment.” Nolte adds that it was especially invaluable for their mechanic Rob Schmitt to view it in order to get a better feel for how the stretch wrapper operates.
“We always try to get the customer in to see a real installation not just a videotape or a trade show viewing where it wraps the same product over and over” explains Lubenow.
Another value-added service that Sargento appreciated was that the distributor’s three-day installation also included “thorough” training. Rather than getting a lightning-fast one-day installation-and-training package Sargento personnel were trained over the course of about a day and a half. “That helps” Nolte tells Packaging World. “While there’s always some kind of training for a start-up [the distributor] did a great job.” Nolte says about 30 Sargento employees were trained including maintenance electrical and forklift operators.
The installation and training were conducted by general manager Bob Schley of Packaging Systems of Indiana (Lafayette IN) a sister company of PSW.
“We see this as part of our responsibility to our customer” says Lubenow. “We don’t want operators asking ‘What do we do now?’ when they’re left on their own. Otherwise you end up teaching them later what they should have been taught at the first.”
For Sargento the successful start-up completed an exemplary experience. “It’s a great wrapper” Nolte concludes. “It feels like we got the best of everything the old and the new.”
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