Month: September 2014

An important consideration for food manufacturers is the cost of their packaging machinery and forming sets. To cut costs, many packagers will purchase an average forming set, which meets the minimum requirements for safety and hygiene and produces bags suitable for sale. However, the average forming set that was meant to save money up front will often result in additional, hidden costs over time.

There are some common ways in which average forming sets negatively impact the profits of food producers:

Small Stops and Reduced Output Speed

Small stops are almost always caused by product blockages, which are caused by a wide range of circumstances. Product with low mass, high surface roughness or wide-ranging variation in unit size commonly can block the former, and integral chutes are required to reduce the possibility of blockages.

The design of a straight tube in an average forming set vs a bespoke set’s tube with gradual transition.

However, average forming sets use inlet chutes that do not feature a gradual transition from the chute into the tube, which results in food getting stuck in the machine. When small stops occur, the machine must be turned off and the issue must be corrected by an engineer. Every minute that the machine is off reduces the overall output of your company.

Misaligned Tubes

Average forming sets that are fabricated poorly will feature belt flats on the tube that are not an equal distance away from the centreline of the belts. One belt will apply less pressure, which results in uneven tension and it will wear out faster than usual. As such, the belts will have to be replaced more often than they would be with a custom forming set – another hidden cost which will add up over time.

An example of tube misalignment.

Problems With Back Seals

Misaligned tubes and shoulders can compromise the quality of the back-seal on the bag, which leads to waste of material. The film may wander off to one side, which will cause the material to ripple while it is being passed through the machine. This can cause the back-seal to expose graphics that are meant to be hidden or hide graphics that are meant to be shown. In some cases, the back seal will come apart. Both food products and packaging material are wasted, which presents a significant dent in the bottom line of food producers.

At KENRAY, we have seen many customers buy average forming sets to save hundreds of pounds in the short term. Unfortunately, over time the equipment presents shortcomings that cost thousands to correct. Our bespoke forming sets prevent these issues from occurring, helping you to increase your production and output.

For more information, view our Forming Set Solutions page or give us a call at +44 (0)1530 400 100. You can also read our full white paper on the Hidden Costs of Average Forming Sets.

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) has announced its plans to fund a study that will endeavour to improve the recycling and remanufacturing of flexible packaging. The findings could potentially have a significant impact on the packaging of snack products with bespoke forming sets.

The study will take a close look at flexible packaging that contains aluminium, such as pet food containers, toothpaste tubes and snack pouches. Defra estimates that the UK marketplace uses 160 000 metric tons of flexible laminate packaging every year. As such, it is important for food manufacturers and OEMs to become aware of the recycling opportunities for this this type of material.

Several large UK food manufacturers will take part in the study. Nestle UK & Ireland, Coca-Cola Enterprises and Tesco UK will research, develop and test new methods of recovering and treating the materials used in flexible packaging. They will also endeavour to increase the recycling and collection of flexible packaging across England.

Should the trials prove successful, there is the possibility that new viable collection and recycling schemes will be implemented. This could lead to a significant reduction in carbon emissions, ultimately benefitting the environment in more ways than one.

Due to the nature of new materials used in flexible packaging, film control and former accuracy is paramount. Flexible packaging has the potential to pose a challenge to food manufacturers, and it is important to work with packaging experts that can develop custom forming sets to address these issues.

KENRAY has 30 years of experience in helping food manufacturers package their products using a wide range of materials. For more information, visit our Snack Food Formers page or call us at: (0)1530 400 100.