FEATURE PACKAGING MACHINERY
INNOVATION RIPENS DEMAND FOR FRESH PRODUCE AUTOMATION
FlexaPac virtually eliminates product bruising and waste and has the ability to reduce labour costs by 85 per cent. With a footprint equivalent to existing
F
rom pre-washed bags of salad to prepared vegetables and ready-to-eat
fruit, for time-poor Britons these groceries have an irresistible lure. Sales of pre-prepared fruit and veg in the UK are estimated to account for as much as £1 billion.* And with new healthier options, like the trend for innovative veg such as ‘courgetti’, sweet potato fries, and economical wonky veg, fresh food producers are under growing pressure to respond quicker to retail orders, turning around a larger range of unspoiled products in faster timescales. Fieldwork studies of consumer
behaviours in the latest DEFRA Food Statistics Pocketbook** lists product quality in the top five factors that influence choice, with 62 per cent of shoppers citing it as important. Only price featured more highly. While automation continues to flourish amongst food suppliers, fresh food producers have been more hesitant to adopt due to concerns about bruising of delicate fruits and bags of product bursting - which can increase wastage and lead to hefty retailer penalties. With customer’s quality expectations
continually increasing, award-winning automation specialist, Pacepacker Services continues to revolutionise how fresh food producers use robotics to improve efficiency in their packing facilities. Among the most recent innovations is a range of fully integrated turnkey systems that can be interlocked into existing lines and specifically address.
HANDLING DELICATE NETTED FRUITS Automating the labour intensive activity of manually loading netted fruits and delicate vegetables from a rotary table into crates, trays and cartons, Pacepacker’s FlexaPac system is a first for fruit packing. Effortlessly handling in excess of 60 nets of fruit and vegetables per minute, the
42 SEPTEMBER 2016 | AUTOMATION
Delicate fruit gently slide off the lowering plates into an awaiting tray positioned underneath the FlexaPac
rotary table operations, Pacepacker’s patented FlexaPac system comprises two parallel conveyor belts that transport bags of fruit from a packing machine onto a set of landing platforms. Here, once the correct quantity of netted or bagged product has been recognised by the system, they are gently pushed onto a set of lowering plates, which smoothly releases the product into the waiting tray below – completely eliminating damage and waste. Without human handling, the system evenly distributes layers of either netted or bagged fruit, below the level of the tray bale arms or carton lips, until the required quantity is met. “The patented FlexaPac technology is
completely different from anything else on the market,” explains Paul Wilkinson, Pacepacker’s business development manager. “While it has been designed to automate and overcome issues relating to the packing of both netted and bagged fruit it also offers manufacturers of other goods, such as nuts, plant bulbs, onions, cheeses and shell fish, a fast and waste efficient automated packing option.”
Tilting into a horizontal position, the Shingle Tray Loader releases product in an upright position into the tray
STACKS OF FRESH POTENTIAL Pacepacker’s Shingle Tray Loader (STL) is said to be the first fully automated vertical packing solution of its kind, reducing waste and presenting fresh form, fill and seal packs uniformly into retail trays. Incorporating the very latest FANUC M- 710iC/45M robot and Pacepacker’s own- design shingle feed end-effector and tray denester, the STL vertically packs everything from fresh bags of salad to chopped vegetables, stir fry mixes and packs of sliced pineapple. Previously a conventional ‘turntable style’ operation employing multiple people to manually load supermarket trays vertically, the STL reaches 90 packs per minute, ensuring consistent presentation. Typical ROI is less than 12 months The STL’s bespoke end effector
smoothly adjusts its position to catch fresh produce packs as they shoot off the end of a conveyor, stacking packs on top of each other. Once full, the robot arm then tilts the end effector into a horizontal position above a waiting full or half-sized crate, releasing the entire product collection uniformly into the
tray. Upright stacking means that products maintain their freshness for longer and are more visually appealing to consumers. In addition, more packs can be fitted into each tray, reducing supply chain and distribution costs Built to a compact footprint, the STL
also features a multi-tasking pack diverter to count and index packs, while the tray denester separates the stacks of crates for filling, pushing them along the conveyor to the shingle packing operation. Up to 20 half trays per line per minute can be processed, ensuring no packing bottlenecks.
FRESH TAKE ON ROI Although the average number of operatives previously performing fresh produce packing tasks varies by manufacturer, a 12-month ROI for a larger packing plant is more than feasible when factoring in workforce costs and emergency agency cover. In addition, the sheer volume of product that can be handled by each system, 40+ product variants can be programmed into a single machine, and the waste reductions that can be accomplished by stopping perishable items being overexposed to excessive manual handling, results in vast operational savings. “Given the appetite for premium
convenience foods, fresh produce suppliers are naturally eager to enter this market. Equally, food retailers are keen to extend their prepared produce range,” says Wilkinson. “Hand packing is a labour intensive process. Previously, robots and automation were considered too harsh for handling delicate produce. Yet now there are numerous viable automation options that enable fresh produce suppliers to maintain freshness, respond faster to retail orders, reduce waste and workforce costs. Ultimately suppliers that deliver high quality premium veg, minimal waste and consistent presentation will be clear winners in the battle to engage shoppers.”
*
www.mintel.com/blog/mintel-market-
news/mintel-in-the-media-this-weeks- highlights-2nd-april-2015
**
www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/
uploads/attachment_data/file/526395/food pocketbook-2015update-26may16.pdf
Pacepacker Services
www.pacepacker.com
/AUTOMATION
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