When a north east based meat producer needed to double their current production capacity on an existing tray sealing line, Vortech were invited to design and propose a turnkey solution.

We quickly identified the two main areas which required automation, and recommended installing a new Perseus, fully automatic tray sealer, in-conjunction with a PGS 2100, pre glued fully automatic pre glued Sleever.

The Smoothseal Perseus fully automatic in line machine overcame the first issue, which was the time taken to load and unload the D276-75 Aluminium trays from an existing Smoothseal Olympus, semi automatic tray sealer. Although a semi automatic tray sealer has many benefits such as its very compact design, and mobility, when it comes to speed, the in- line machines are more efficient because of the simple fact a semi automatic machine will only work as fast as the operator, whereas going in line only requires the loading of the trays in to the pusher bar conveyor.

The client’s second problem was the time taken and the amount of labour required to manually sleeve the finished trays, which we solved by installing our own PGS2100 fully automatic, pre-glued Sleever. However due to the clients current sleeve not being suitable for an automatic machine, we were required to work with the sleeve producer and the Supermarket to obtain modifications which wouldn’t alter the appearance of the Sleeve or it’s rigidity. After trials with several pre production versions in our workshop, the final prototype was approved and produced, in time for the installation of the line.

Our customer is delighted to confirm that we have achieved the goal of doubling the production throughput, however with the line only working at 60% there is plenty of spare capacity in the packaging equipment for further improvements and savings to be achieved.

If you have a project you wish to discuss please don’t hesitate to contact us to arrange an appointment.