Equipped with
midasmotion
controllers and software, ten flowrap machines manufactured by a
Norwich based machinery manufacturer are employed at Walkers Snack
Foods. Snack products such as potato crisps are packed into individual
packs by bank of vertical baggers then passed via a sorting line to
rows of horizontal flowrappers, one for each flavour of multi-pack. The
main midasmotion
benefits applicable to Walkers are the rapid product change, misplaced
product detection and the automatic reel change over and splice system.
These three features alone have helped Walkers exceed their own high
efficiency targets.The 'misplaced product' detection system uses special sensors which detect the crisps through two layers of foil film (the individual inner pack and the outer multi-pack). When an individual pack is misplaced or damaged the sealing jaw smoothly stops in the open position and the pack is automatically rejected, withoutstopping or interfering with the packing process.
Most product changes are performed within seconds through a touch sensitive display. For bigger changes such as a change from six- pack to twelve-pack, where a physically bigger infeed is required, a second complete infeed conveyor is employed. The operator simply unplugs one infeed and wheels another one into place complete with its own motor. This may seem an extreme solution but it provides a rapid, fool-proof and consistent procedure for major product changes.
The wrapping material used by Walkers can be quite difficult to handle and is relatively expensive. With its superb and instant film registration and auto-splice reel change, film wastage is reduced to almost zero. Normal approaches to on-the-fly film splicing don't work well in this application, so the sort of special sequencing that midasmotion are so good at produces a machine that almost never stops!