Onion packer Stourgarden has selected to use Herbert machinery as it looks for a robust system to supply major multiples.

Having worked with Herbert Engineering on previous occasions, on the design and installation of two new pre-pack lines and then again with the addition of a tray delivery system, Herbert was the first choice when Stourgarden sought additional packing machinery to enhance its throughput performance.

An increase in demand from its largest customer left Stourgarden needing to achieve a higher throughput, within the confines of a normal working shift pattern.

Herbert installed an additional high speed vertical form fill and feed packing line, incorporating a tipper delivery and inspection system leading onto a high speed weigher and vertical form filler.

But the addition of this new packing line created its own challenges, as changes and upgrades to the automatic tray delivery system were then needed. The existing system was made up of one Herbert de-nester with a shared feed to the two pre-pack lines and two loose flow lines. This was adapted to two Herbert tray de-nesters; one with a dedicated feed to the three high speed pre-pack lines and the other with a dedicated feed to the two loose flow lines with an option to route through a tray lining machine.

A dedicated layer palletiser was sourced from Vertipak for the two loose flow lines, and to ensure that the new line worked to maximum efficiency the waste conveyors also underwent modification.

Stourgarden proprieter Bill Rix said: “We were very pleased in the past with the work that Herbert has done for us, which is why we went straight to them when we needed a new pack line. As before, we are delighted with the equipment and installation, which will certainly help us to meet our increased targets for throughput.”