A tray sealer and integrated conveyor from Proseal are providing a fruit producer with greater throughput and ample production line space for packing, allowing it to meet increased demand from its customers.
Spalding-based HP² – short for Hawthorn Produce, Packaging and Handling –required a high-speed tray sealing machine to meet growing customer demand for top-sealed packs of grapes. The machine had to be capable of sealing 120 packs per minute and to meet these needs, HP² chose the Proseal GT2s tray sealer with a fully integrated flat-belt SC conveyor, making a total line length of around ten metres.
Nick Bossley, Managing Director at HP², comments: “As ever, Proseal’s service was second-to-none. Installation was completed on the day of delivery – including control links to existing end-of-line equipment to enable staggered controlled stoppages – and production was able to commence on day two. The GT2s and integrated conveyor have been fantastic for us in terms of extra throughput and added stability and have truly helped us deliver for our customers’ needs.
“This was no surprise as we’ve been Proseal customers for a long time and are well aware of the company’s excellent tray sealers.”
The large-capacity Proseal GT2s tray sealer is meeting HP²’s need for speed with an average throughput of 127 packs per minute, thus enabling the company to comfortably meet customer demands and even take on extra orders.
The integrated infeed conveyor ensures that there is maximum space for product loading so HP²’s operators can always keep up with the demands of the line. Crucially, the conveyor is controlled and managed from the Proseal machine’s user-friendly interface, meaning there is no need for the addition of a conveyor cubicle, which creates space for additional operators.
Equally as important, the single and secure point of control ensures that the infeed conveyor mirrors the speeds of the tray sealer and guarantees instant reaction to any changes in run conditions. This, combined with Proseal’s ProMotion™ system, which uses following motion and intelligent buffering technology to enable trays to feed continuously into the sealer, delivers optimum efficiency and minimal stoppage downtime for HP².
“HP² and Nick are loyal customers, so we were delighted to supply them with a machine that is now actually exceeding their throughput requirements, as well as allowing the necessary space for the onward packing of the punnets,” comments Tony Burgess, Head of Sales and Control Systems at Proseal. “Over the years, Proseal and HP² have each played a part in the other’s success and growth, and we very much hope to see our excellent relationship continue.”
