Product category:
Packaging, Conveyors and Materials Transfer
News Release from: Chronos Richardson | Subject: Vertical Form Fill and Seal (VFFS)
Edited by the Processingtalk Editorial
Team on 10 March 2004
Equipment benefits major fish feed
producer
Leading international weighing and packaging specialists Chronos Richardson has recently supplied an extension to the pellet conveying, packing and palletising lines at leading fish feed producer EWOS
Leading international weighing and packaging specialists Chronos Richardson have recently supplied an extension to the pellet conveying, packing and palletising lines at leading fish feed producer EWOS This follows on from the major contract to supply the company with a comprehensive conveying and bagging system nearly two years ago
This article was originally published on Processingtalk on 2 Jul 2008 at 8.00am (UK)
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To streamline production and gain maximum efficiency from the robot palletiser, EWOS have now added a second packing station bagging line consisting of pneumatic conveying system, feed silos, feed hopper, automatic weigher and Vertical Form Fill and Seal (VFFS) bagging machine.
At the same time the layout and operation of robot palletiser and wrapping lines have been completely revised.
This equipment replaces an original packing line working on open mouth bags on the other side of the plant.
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EWOS are one of the world's leading fish feed producers and have plants in Scotland, Norway, Canada and Chile.
The company also operates several fish farms, where it raises salmon, trout and other species.
Their Scottish plant in Livingston, West Lothian, makes starter feeds for young fish.
The plant runs two process lines, each following the same basic steps.
A weigh-batching system meters the ingredients, then grinders reduce the particle sizes.
After blending and mixing, the moist feed passes through a pellet extruder, followed by drying, vacuum coating with oil and bagging.
The feed raw materials vary in size from 1.2 mm to 6.0 mm.
They also contain different amounts of oil, nutrients, pigments and other ingredients to suit the fish species, its growth stage, its habitat and other factors.
As a result of these variables, the plant offers a staggering 1,000 different feeds.
There are now two Richard Simon UBM belt fed nett weighers at the heart of the weighing and bagging station feeding weighed product into the Vertical Form Fill and Seal bagging machines.
These weighers have a strong reputation for speed, reliability and accuracy.
For applications like this, vertical form-fill-seal machines offer distinct advantages over conventional bagging methods.
Instead of using ready-made bags, they use flat sheet based bagging material in roll stock form, which can be easily preprinted with detailed merchandising and graphics not possible on conventional bags and packaging.
Using plastic film offers cost savings of around 15% compared with conventional open mouth bags.
They also allow on-line changes in bag length/weight combinations without stoppages and at the touch of a button as product density changes, or different packing combinations are needed.
During operation the plastic film is fed continuously through the machine.
The two vertical edges of the film are welded by electrical impulse heaters forming a hollow tube on the vertical forming tube.
Heat sealers at the bottom first seal the bottom of the tube and then the product is dispensed into the formed bag.
During this filling process the bag lowers and when full, the top is sealed to form an air tight package.
As the top of one bag is formed and separated from the film stock, the base of another is sealed, taking its place in the continuous process.
The complete system is controlled by a central PLC and product flow through the system can be rapidly adjusted to meet the ever-changing customer demands, thus avoiding unnecessary stock piling or product shortages.
As EWOS process engineering manager, Mark Wright, points out: " By adding the second line alongside the first, we have streamlined our process and can now take full advantage of the capacity of the robot palletiser.
Together the two lines can now bag 25 tonnes per hour.
With so many different products flexibility is very important.
Each new production run can require stopping the process to clean and re-fit the extruder, as well as to clean the dryer and cooler.
A run might be as small as 2.5 tons and in that case, the extruder is up for cleaning even before the product is through the dryer.
The Chronos Richardson equipment gives us that flexibility and key equipment is easy to clean between runs.".
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