For packing houses handling a large number of SKUs for different customers, meeting the varied shelf ready demands of the retail channel can be a challenge. Having a single case packer that can handle it all is a solution.
One of the latest trends in supermarket packaging is to cut down on labour and waste by providing glue-free wraparound cartons. However, receiving large volumes of goods into a busy but confined supermarket space required some clever thinking.
Leading supermarket group Aldi found a solution: placing products directly onto pallets and into the store, as opposed to the usual unpacking of all items onto shelves which is found in other supermarkets.
This alternative cuts down on shelving and carton wastage, not to mention labour costs and time. It completely removes the need to tear open boxes.
Many packing houses are now faced with adapting their machinery to comply with Aldi’s specified packaging solution.
South Australia packaging machinery manufacturer HMPS reports that it can meet this market requirement with flexible packaging machinery that can cater for a range of different products, sizes and packing configurations.
HMPS has designed and built a wraparound case packer - the HMPS 5000 - to this specification for a Victoria-based packing house.
Designed to offer the customer a glue free hood, the machine was developed specifically for a food product but can be easily be adapted to any other type product as well.
HMPS MD Mark Emmett says it was a particular challenge for HMPS to load the complete assembly of the product array and carton hood into the tray, which was also erected in the case packer, without damaging it.
“This needed to be done while keeping the products arranged in such a way that it could slide into the tray without damaging the product hood, or tray,” Emmett says
“The cycle time was a challenge as well, which was overcome a by using a dual magazine system. This allowed an increased speed of up to 50 per cent on the application and meant the customer could double up on manufacturing time.”
HMPS5000 is a fully automatic case packer which eliminates end of line labour constraints. It can pack various products in wrap-around, end-load, sleeve or tray style carton. The system erects and loads cartons within one compact fully integrated machine.
