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Bringin' 'em back for more

Engineers from two packaged goods manufacturers, one based in Illinois and one in North Carolina, found more than enough at Pack Expo 2000 to bring them back in 2002.

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Production engineers and managers who find what they need at one Pack Expo are likely to attend the next Pack Expo two years later. Prime examples are the folks at Wix-Dana and Xactdose.

Headquartered in Gastonia, NC, Wix-Dana is a leading manufacturer of automobile air filters. Among its plants is the one in Dillon, SC, where case packing of RSC shippers had been identified as a problem in the year leading up to Pack Expo 2000.

β€œIt was a combination of two things,” says process engineering manager Chris Loafman. β€œThe case packer was somewhat unforgiving and there were slight inconsistencies in the corrugated case blanks. The end result was too much machine downtime.”

So it was off to Pack Expo 2000 to find a solution. β€œAfter visiting the show, we identified a great list of potential vendors,” says Loafman. β€œWe narrowed the list down to just a few and asked for quotes. Finally it was down to just two candidates, and Schneider won out after we visited their facility.”

The wraparound case packer supplied by Schneider Packaging Equipment (Brewerton, NY) now smoothly produces 12-count single-layer cases at peak speeds of 150 filters/min. Some filters are simply shrink wrapped, while others are cartoned.

The shrink wrapping, a brand new initiative at the firm, was driven partly by retailers who see it as a cost-savings compared to cartoned filters. The wrapping is done on a Capra system from Arpac (Schiller Park, IL). Cartoning is done on the same machine as was used in the past. Low-friction tabletop conveyors from Nercon (Oshkosh, WI) divert filters into either the cartoner or the shrink wrapper. Additional Nercon conveyors take product out of the cartoner or out of the shrink wrapper and into the Schneider case packer.

Adding to the mix at the case packer is that the firm’s filters come in four different heights. The end result of all these variations is that six different case varieties are required. Changeover from one case to another is done with no tools and takes about 5 minutes.

Loafman says the footprints of the new cases are smaller than the cases that have been replaced. And the 32 ECT corrugated is lighter, too. So a β€œsignificant” material cost savings has been achieved. No wonder Loafman plans to attend Pack Expo 2002.

β€œThis time I’m not going alone,” he adds. β€œI’m bringing two engineers with, and we’ll be looking for carton erectors and print-and-apply labelers, as well as semiautomatic case packers for some of our slower lines.”

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