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Flexible valve application speeds coffee packaging

Mother Parkers Tea and Coffee streamlined—and sped up—its packaging process with pre-oiled, flexible valves that maintain freshness, letting CO2 out of the bag without letting oxygen in.

The one-way valve has a tri-layer construction. As CO2 released by the packaged coffee beans builds up, the gas enters and then escapes through the valve’s top baffle layer. The valve then automatically reseals to prevent oxygen from entering the bag.
The one-way valve has a tri-layer construction. As CO2 released by the packaged coffee beans builds up, the gas enters and then escapes through the valve’s top baffle layer. The valve then automatically reseals to prevent oxygen from entering the bag.

Mississauga, Canada-based Mother Parkers Tea and Coffee traces its roots back more than 100 years, led by the third generation of founder Stafford Higgins, with the fourth generation working in the company. While steeped in a proud heritage and history, there is nothing old-fashioned about the firm’s approach to processing and packaging capabilities.

Two years ago, Mother Parkers set out to find a better solution for its degassing process, a crucial step in coffee processing that involves the release of carbon dioxide gases naturally emanated by coffee beans. If beans are bagged without a means for CO2 to escape, the coffee bag will expand like a balloon. It’s also essential to seal the coffee bag properly to prevent the entry of oxygen, which leads to staleness of the beans.

The company’s previous processes used flexible valves as well as some button-style valves, but Mother Parkers was dissatisfied with the valves’ failure rate. Says Kelly Harber, Maintenance/Manufacturing Projects Manager for Mother Parkers’ Fort Worth, TX, manufacturing plant, “The company needed a more reliable valve that could be applied with faster throughput time.” Both improvements would enable Mother Parkers to turn around orders more efficiently for its customers, which include large retailers and foodservice providers across the U.S. and Canada.

The solution ultimately came from CCL Label, formerly Avery Dennison Designed and Engineered Solutions, which equipped Mother Parkers’ Fort Worth operation with three Accraply valve applicator systems for applying CCL Label’s Flexis® Coffee pre-oiled valve. The implementation of the new valve solution, which went online in June 2012, has been so successful that Mother Parkers is adding two more Accraply systems this year, Harber says.

Reliability of the seal
Mother Parkers did not rush into adoption of the new valve. First, it tested the Flexis valve extensively on the Accraply system with an Avery Dennison ALS 204 dispensing head. The firm particularly wanted a UV-detectable valve, so that it could see the food-grade silicone oil under the valve. The oil, which is preapplied to the Flexis valves, acts as an internal seal protecting against oxygen ingress. UV detection of the oil was preferred by Mother Parkers due to space constraints amid the various types of packaging machinery used in its processes.

The one-way Flexis valve has a tri-layer construction. As carbon dioxide released by the packaged coffee beans builds up, the gas enters and then escapes through the valve’s top baffle layer. The valve then automatically reseals to prevent oxygen from entering the bag.

Mother Parkers put the Flexis valve through its paces for six months, comparing the new valve against the performance of its existing flexible valves and button valves as well as other valves on the market. The company found that the Flexis valve performed with little to no failures after being tested for oxygen resistance, extended shelf-life performance, adhesion, and dispensability. Residual oxygen levels were kept at 2% or below, which is the industry standard. The trials suggested the valves would perform up to their field-tested shelf life of 12 months or longer.

New e-book on Flexible Packaging
In this e-book, you’ll learn key considerations for vertical and horizontal f/f/s and how to choose between premade bags and an f/f/s system. Plus, discover the pitfalls to avoid on bagging machinery projects.
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New e-book on Flexible Packaging
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