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Distributor bags benefits

For many years, New Berlin, WI-based Anderson Seal received seals, clamps, tubing, and related items from their manufacturers, then distributed them, primarily to midwestern hydraulic, medical, and automotive original equipment manufacturers.

Anderson Seal prints and seals bags of parts sold in the aftermarket by Harley-Davidson.
Anderson Seal prints and seals bags of parts sold in the aftermarket by Harley-Davidson.

The company’s packaging responsibilities were modest. But that began to change in recent years.

The catalyst behind the change was a key customer, Milwaukee-based Harley-Davidson. In the past, Anderson shipped bulk quantities of product to Harley-Davidson’s Franklin, WI, distribution center. HD would then package those products for aftermarket sales. But about two years ago, “Harley-Davidson decided they were no longer going to package any of the aftermarket products we distributed to them,” says Brian Moore, an account manager at Anderson.

“Harley recommended that their suppliers use Harley’s contract packager or come up with some way to package their own [products],” he adds. Since Anderson “had quite a bit of business with Harley, we went out and purchased packaging machinery.”

For the limited packaging it did do, Anderson “used a little semi-automatic machine that counted bags and sealed them,” recalls Karin Pampuch, operations manager. “It could do maybe 10 bags a minute.” The machine did not print bags.

To satisfy its customer’s needs, Anderson purchased a Max bagger from Sharp Packaging Systems. The decision was made after consulting with Harley-Davidson and Sharp distributor Unisource. “We bought our first machine after looking at other bagging equipment,” says Moore.

Once Anderson purchased the machine, “We had two people go through a little training program with Sharp,” says Moore. “Sharp gave us a brief demonstration of the machine and we were up and running.” By early this year, “we were at the point where we needed additional volume,” he says, so a second machine was added. This unit, an SX, “is smaller, and is ideal for our products,” he says. Both machines print onto bags.

The newer stepper motor-driven SX is an all-electric tabletop machine that does not require air to operate. It includes a 6”-wide printhead, 2” wider than the Max, which operates pneumatically. The Max runs at slightly faster speeds, but the SX still produces 35 bags a minute, satisfactory for Anderson’s semi-automatic operation. When just a single part is put in a bag, speeds can be faster.

According to Pampuch, both units run at speeds between 35 and 50 bags/minute, depending on the bag size and number of products that are hand-loaded onto the machines. Both machines are dedicated to products distributed to Harley-Davidson. Using a PC and Label View software, Anderson can input part numbers and critical data and call them up as necessary.

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