GAINSBOROUGH INDUSTRIAL CONTROLS
Gainsborough Industrial Controls Ltd (GIC) is celebrating 20 years of business success this year. The Lincolnshire-based designer and manufacturer of vertical form, fill and seal (VFFS) machinery designed and built the first VFFS machine in the mid 1980s but it has been during the last three years where big changes in the fresh potato industry sector has seen GIC install over 60 lines of VFFS based equipment.
“VFFS machinery-based packaging lines have increasingly replaced the old necktie produce bags,” says applications manager Andrew Beale, “and GIC has made the gap in the market its own. Projects have ranged from basic entry-level machines designed to be simply interfaced with existing product feeds through to full turnkey lines where the company has taken project responsibility for supply and installation of all equipment.” Finished potato packs are now commonplace on multiples’ shelves, with packs ranging from 500g organic salad potatoes through to 7.5kg main crop potatoes.
Beale says that many of his customers switched from the traditional necktie packs to VFFS type machines with a single line, but within a short time repeat orders were placed for additional GIC lines when the new pack style became conventional and its benefits realised. “One of our customers has in three of its different sites a multi-shift basis eleven of our VFFS based lines. The first order for two special version VFB4000 model machines was placed with us in early 2001 - this was after a joint development period involving GIC’s customer project team and engineers. These first two lines were installed into a completely new packhouse extension with all new upstream feeding, inspection and high speed weighing equipment. This flagship site has now seen many visitors from both inside and outside the fresh produce industry.”
The specification and line of the machines installed included stainless steel construction and full maintenance free-servo motor drives with colour touch screen operator panels for the bag makers. “The benefits of the change to VFFS include higher throughputs, increased flexibility (various pack styles from a single machine - including modified atmosphere packaging - extended shelf life), improved pack presentation, small machine footprint and integrated pack ‘best before’ date coding,” explains Beale.
The latest machine to be installed into packhouses is GIC’s new high-speed continuous motion model, VFB8000. “The VFB8000 was in development during the final months of 2002 and comes as a direct result of customer feedback for higher throughput machinery with increased levels of flexibility, gentle product handling and connectivity to management information systems. The VFB8000 machine is very new and uses a control system based around a high speed industrial PC. The machine also uses the latest in servo-motion control for all its movements. By using full-servo motion control, mechanical components are minimised, which reduces maintenance requirements to a minimum and offers first-rate levels of flexibility and performance.”
The VFB8000 machine operator screen is a 10.4-inch full colour touch screen and offers multiple password protected access levels for operators, engineers and management.
The company feels now that it is established in the fresh produce industry as a major supplier of VFFS machinery based systems, further new developments will be revealed over the next few months. The next new addition to the range is a high speed end-of-line robot MU and tray filling, which has been designed as a direct result from customer demand for high-speed, flexible end of line automated packaging. In addition, like the VFFS machinery range, all main machine movements are based on free-servo drives giving the users control and flexibility with low energy consumption. “We have been really busy lately, working with the major potato packers, supplying mainly four of our lines to the potato sector in the UK. This translates into several millions pounds in business over the last three years. The potato sector is great for us.”
WROOT WATER SYSTEMS
“The headache of retrieving drip tape from a crop at the end of the season prior to harvest can be relieved by using Wroot Water Systems Tape Master, a patented, automated tape retrieval system mounted on the rear of a tractor. With a front mounted topper the two jobs can be combined freeing a worker and tractor,” says a company spokesperson.
“The main winding spool is hydraulically driven with a variable speed operated from the tractor cab,” explained Wroot, “enabling the wind-in speed to be matched to the forward speed of the tractor, with working speeds of four to 12mph, at 1200-1800rpm.” A pivoting arm is attached to the spool so that the tape can be picked up at the row ends, without the operator leaving the seat. The tapes are tied in a loop, the arm picks up the tape, and the speed of the spool can be varied as the tractor travels over the field to match the forward speed and the quantity of tape on the spool. The spool itself consists of two interlocking cones, which are separated by a hydraulic ram allowing easy tape removal, and re-lock. The system allows work rates of over 10 acres a day immediately in front of the harvester, and minimising the risk of greening.
Wroot Water Systems also has a solution for crop fertilisation. “Fertilising your crop and irrigating concurrently is cost effective and efficient,” says Wroot. Each Drip Irrigation computer-designed system is tailor made to grower’s individual requirements, and pumps, filtration, fertigation and valves can be remotely controlled from one location. “This efficient approach to precision farming maximises crop management by reducing inputs of energy, fertiliser and pesticides. With fertigation techniques, both the cost and environmental issues set out in the Water Framework Directive are addressed simultaneously,“ she says.
”By using our own sourced connectors and fittings, Wroot Water’s system removes leaks and problems associated with older systems. This process is water efficient and cost effective by its modular construction. Wroot’s Low Flow tape, proven over three years in the field, ensures gentle soil wetting around the rooting system so the plant receives the optimum amount of water and fertilizer required for all soil types.”
The company lists the advantages of fertigation as being: increase in total yield and marketable tuber numbers, improved skin quality, tuber shape and uniformity and reduction in common scab. The company works closely with a leading fertiliser group to tailor make fertiliser requirements to individual fields and specific crop requirements throughout the growing period. “Fertiliser rate and type trials have been conducted for several years, providing more practical data for growers to use in the remainder of this season and with further developments to boost crop potential next year.
“Together with continuous soil and weather monitoring equipment, Wroot Water Systems provides an individual service to growers where irrigation is an essential tool in the growing regime.”
SANDIACRE PACKAGING
Sandiacre develops high-speed packaging systems for main crop potato and Rose Forgrove boosts its capability to serve the fresh produce sector.
Sandiacre Packaging Machinery (SPM) and Rose Forgrove are part of Molins Packaging Machinery, which also includes Molins ITCM, Langenpac NV, Langen Inc and Cerulean. Operating from premises in Nottingham, the companies share a fully equipped, purpose-built, state-of-the-art design and manufacturing facility. “Our shared facilities are applied to benefit our customers,” says technical publications manager Steve Milner. “Our fully equipped machining centre includes 24-hour CNC machining systems, 3d CAD design facility, fully stocked computerised spare parts store, fabrication shop, paint shop, twin assembly and electronic build areas and commissioning zones.”
Sandiacre designs and manufacture sbespoke vertical form, fill and seal machines and recently extended its capability in packing fresh produce by developing its reciprocating jaw, continuous motion TG350-RC vertical form, fill and seal machine to pack a wide range of potato types and sizes into a broad range of pack sizes. The machine can pack significant weights at high speed without increasing damage to sensitive main crop potatoes.
“This off-the-shelf full 316 stainless bespoke machine demonstrates Sandiacre’s ability to match machine performance to specific sector requirements. The combination of a state-of-the-art motion control technology and a specially designed low-drop former - incorporating a product accumulator system - ensures a softer catch of the product into the bag, minimising the potential for tuber damage.
Potatoes in weights up to 5kg can be dropped in one dose without blocking, thus allowing speeds of 50 packs per minute with main crop potatoes to be achieved.“
Additionally, Milner says it is not necessary to change the portrait format of the traditional wicketed bag to accept the high volume, so existing downstream packing processes can be maintained and the efficiency of product transfer to the end users is protected. The TG350-RC vertical form, fill and seal machine is built to the Sandiacre standards of robustness, which means it is suited to withstand the continuous impact of significant weights. Able to accommodate a variety of product weighing and in-feed systems, it can satisfy the requirements of an increasing number of packers to meet their customers’ demands for packing on high-care, wash-down machines.
Rose Forgrove designs and manufactures horizontal form, fill and seal machines (flow wrappers) and has several of its machines - such as Merlin, Minerva and Interga Flowpak flow wrappers - employed for the packaging of delicate fresh produce such as baking potatoes. The Flowpak flow wrappers can be used for gas flushing processes where extended produce shelf life is required,“ Milner says. “The Minerva PC is an entry-level machine with a multi-axis servo-driven flowpak machine. It can reach speeds up to 180 wraps per minute for products up to 150mm wide, and up to 120 wraps per minute on products up to 300mm wide. Its memory capacity for 30 product recipes ensures rapid size change, while the `no product-no bag’ feature minimises film wastage and the `misplaced product’ feature eliminates product damage and avoids jams.”
No comments yet