Furman polishes up brightstock packing (sidebar)

“Changeover time on prior tray packing machinery that averaged around 2½ hours had been a major issue,” says Furman project manager Jeff Bradigan. So it’s no surprise that one of the biggest pluses to the new Kisters Kayat tray packer is the reduction in time to change over. Bradigan reports that they have reduced changeover time by around 66% to 30 minutes for each of the four to six conversions the line averages daily over two shifts. Part of the changeover is mechanical and involves a switch of the lug chains for the grouping using a specialized Kisters Kayat-supplied tool. “A line operator designated the ‘adjuster’ handles that,” Bradigan says. Machine adjustments are also made, using hand cranks with counters, allowing the operator to dial in the setting. There are about eight handcranks. Before, that procedure required a wrench and manual measurements. After an operator did the best he could, a mechanic was then called on to fine-tune settings. “Now, since the operators ‘hit’ the numbers with the dials, the mechanics don’t have to deal with it,” says Bradigan.