A new snack bagmaker that achieves highest possible speeds in the packaging room is helping Australian snack food processors pack their products quickly and carefully.
The Inspira Snack Bagmaker is the next generation of snack packaging technology from industrial technology innovators —Ishida.
Their new Vertical Form Fill Sealing (VFFS) machine provides a whole new level of automation and efficiency — for processers of snacks — by consistently producing quality bags and dramatically increasing production.
Ishida’s previous VFFS solution (Atlas Series) became the industry benchmark for high-speed operation thanks to a versatile twin-jaw system and innovative continuous back seal system which facilitated previously unattainable processing speeds of up to 250 bags per minute.
A unique bag stripping and product settling system saw Atlas deliver unmatched seal integrity and performance in packaging rooms around the world.
Atlas is well acknowledged by industry for its reliable performance, efficient sealing, reduced raw material waste and film loss, and quick film and size changes.
Despite achieving market success with Atlas — Ishida invests heavily in research and development — and customer feedback has played a major role in the development of their new Inspira range.
A new evolution of VFFS technology
The Inspira range has answered industry’s call for greater efficiency and more automation in the packaging room. A new evolution of VFFS technology, this equipment provides the highest levels of efficiency and seal quality currently available; and better communications between weigher-bagmaker-other packaging room equipment.
Inspira has a host of new features including improved film change-over times and reduced film waste when changing over to a new roll.
“A new auto splicer feature keeps production running — by automatically joining the end of the expiring web roll to the leading edge of the new roll — removing the need for operator involvement,” a Heat & Control spokesperson said.
Auto tracking enables the new roll to track correctly, and registration mark recognition splices the two rolls together to minimise film waste during change over.
“The new auto splicer feature reduces splicing time — by 85 per cent — and delivers a dramatic increase in production,” said the spokesperson.
An accumulator (festoon) holding material storage keeps production running while the splice takes place.
When the splice cycle is complete, the accumulator is re-filled, and expired roll can be changed while new roll is running.
A new splice table light-bar provides easier and faster film splicing, simpler film-feed with fewer rollers, and error-free forming tube insertion and removal.
A film pattern alignment function and a film positioning mechanism to facilitate automatic adjustment in the machine removes wait time when film ends.
Film splicing now takes only 20 seconds and this delivers a significant reduction in downtime for snack food processors. In addition, this feature also prevents human error and reduces film loss.
For snacks processors considering an upgrade to existing equipment — the increased productivity and automation gained with Inspira — will provide a rapid return on investment.
A single source solution
In Australia, Ishida is represented exclusively by Heat and Control.
Their solutions serve multiple snack food processors, including some of Australia’s best-known brands.
They are a world-leader in providing snacks solutions for complete processing lines and Ishida are global manufacturers of snacks weighing, packaging and quality control solutions.
“Through a global alliance, the two companies acknowledge today’s environment of increased machine automation and system integration,” the spokesperson said.
Both companies have a long history of supplying bagmaking and packaging systems — exclusively to the snack industry — and their alliance serves as a response to customer demand for a one-stop solution.
With a combined industry experience of over 200 years, their alliance benefits the Australian packaging and processing industry through its ability to respond quickly to the constantly changing requirements of the food industry.
Design innovations show industry leadership
Ishida’s bagmakers are long recognised by snack food processors as the industry benchmark in packaging technology.
Ishida’s latest evolution of VFFS technology shows clear industry leadership — the Inspira design innovates all the most critical areas of the snack bagmaking — process, product and film handling, seal quality, accuracy, efficiency, weigher interface, changeover, and control and communication functions.
Inspira provides consistent forming and sealing performance of up to 200 bags per minute (when not combined with other Ishida equipment) and the highest levels of efficiency and seal quality come from new motor and drive technology which has improved the positional jaw control at the point of sealing.
This reduces the chance of damaged products and most importantly, maintains freshness of the product.
As most snack food processors produce a variety of snacks, packaging equipment must be able to cater for a range of shapes, sizes, seasoning, and density’s.
The Inspira snack bagmaker provides this versatility and is designed to form block bottom, gusseted, hem seal, and pillow bags.
Another key element of this equipment, is its in-line seal checker (TSC). By utilising feedback communications to the Inspira, the TSC can continuously monitor fill level and compare bags to the targeted value.
When using an autocase packer, bag airfill is important to remain consistent. In a manual operation, an operator can compensate for variations in bag fill, therefore bag thickness, by applying increased pressure or manipulating the bag into a pack pattern.
Automatic case packing is not capable of handling out of thickness bags — this leads to production downtime in order to remove any oversized bags. Similarly, underfilled bags can cause a poor appearance and be the reason product becomes damaged during transit.
The combination of seal testing with bag thickness measurement — feeding back to the bagmaker — enables consistent bag thicknesses to be produced through this ability to adjust the bag air fill.
The new design provides exceptional ease of access for operation and maintenance and has been designed to help the operator act (and react) quicker and more intuitively, removing the need for complex decision-making and unnecessary physical exertion.
In addition to all the impressive performance upgrades, Inspira also comes with reduced energy and air consumption, and lower operating noise levels.
An industry win for the packaging room
While Ishida’s latest VFFS tech brings forth many new ideas and multiple modifications — it is Inspira’s new auto splice feature — that really takes the cake for design innovation.
This equipment is designed to deliver the highest possible packaging speeds, and it’s already helping snack food processors operate faster, more accurately and more efficiently than ever before.
When combined with other Ishida equipment, the Inspira Series Bagmaker can achieve speeds of up to 250 bags per minute, making it the world’s fastest bagmaker.