Stand D10, PPMA, NEC Birmingham, 27-29 September 2022
A Delta 3000 flow wrapper with automatic infeed will take centre stage on IMA ILAPAK’s stand (D10), demonstrating how food producers can reduce their line-side labour requirement whilst reliably and efficiently producing hermetically sealed MAP packs from latest generation films.
“Two of the topics on everyone’s lips are workforce shortages and sustainable packaging; the equipment we have on show illustrates how we can help our customers to address both challenges. Automating the infeed of the flow wrapper is a relatively simple step that eliminates the need for manual loading. It is a starting point and we are hoping that at PPMA it will also be a talking point for discussions about how we, as part of the IMA Group and FLX HUB, can work with our customers to implement labour-saving automation technologies at every stage of the packaging workflow,” said Tony McDonald, Sales and Marketing Director at ILAPAK UK.
With its heavy duty, hygienic design, the Delta 3000 is fast becoming the flow wrapper of choice for the fast-growing chilled sector, where it is used to pack everything from sandwiches, pies and cheese portions to fresh fruit & veg, meat, poultry and fish. IMA ILAPAK is currently experiencing particularly high demand from producers of sandwiches and hand-held snacks thanks to the Delta 3000’s ability to accommodate complex laminates, paper films and recyclable PE and PP mono-films with its long dwell sealing technology.
“The Delta 3000 has a long dwell sealing head which is capable of running films that a rotary sealing system simply cannot handle. Paper films are notoriously difficult to run on flow wrappers because of their structure – applying heat evenly and efficiently to achieve a hermetic seal is made difficult by the thermal insulating properties of the top paper layer. IMA ILAPAK has overcome this by deploying special geometry surface treated sealing jaws in conjunction with consolidated long dwell technology,” said Tony.
The long dwell sealing jaws and special surface treatments developed by IMA ILAPAK also enable the Delta 3000 to run heat-sensitive mono-materials at high speeds.
At the same time, the Delta 3000 meets the chilled food industry’s stringent hygiene requirements by enabling full wash down capability, even of the sealing elements. This has been achieved through full stainless steel execution, isolating the electrical cabinet from the main machine frame and smooth, sloping surfaces without recesses.
As well as food applications, the Delta 3000 is suited to non-food applications where a hermetically sealed pack is required, such as medical and personal care products like wet wipes.
IMA ILAPAK will also demonstrate its capabilities in VFFS (vertical form fill seal) applications, showing its Vegatronic 6400HD bagger. The Vegatronic 6400HD is IMA ILAPAK’s newest continuous motion VFFS system specifically conceived to meet the growing expectations of the market in terms of sanitary design, accessibility, fast changeover and OEE (overall equipment effectiveness). Open frame design, IP66 rated electrical components, easily removable forming tube and a cantilever film reel shaft are among the features that combine to make the Vegatronic 6400HD the most efficient and hygienic bagger on the market today.
The Vegatronic 6400HD is a full washdown bagger; all electronic and electrical parts are sealed to IP66 or higher and open frame architecture allows ready access for cleaning. The open frame design also maximises uptime, as engineers and operators have full accessibility to the front and side of the machine, which makes for easy maintenance.
Efficiency on the Vegatronic 6400HD has been enhanced in a number of ways. The splicing table is vacuum assisted, making it very quick to operate, the forming tube is mounted on a swivel arm for easy removal and the film reel shaft can be both pneumatically activated and cantilever – making film reel changeovers much quicker than usual.
The Vegatronic 6400HD can also be equipped with a dual reel holder and automatic splicing system to further enhance efficiency. The machine is designed with short drop heights to prevent breakage of brittle frozen products and support high speed operation.
The Vegatronic 6400HD is the ideal solution for medium/large bags, it can produce pillow packs with or without MAP with a maximum film width of 830mm from laminated films, HDPE, LDPE, paper or biodegradable/compostable materials.
IMA Record will show the Panda Red horizontal flow wrapping machine, a flexible machine that can find application in both food and non food industries. This machine can be integrated with multiple automatic feeding systems offered by IMA Record and can be equipped with all the main options in order to deliver maximum performance. The Panda Red is available in the Bottom Seal version with rotating sealing jaws for a packaging speed up to 240ppm. The stainless steel chassis and the availability of washdown infeed match the level of sanitation required by the food industry, including IQF applications. 100% made in Italy, with a simple and intuitive HMI, Panda Red can be easily connected for remote assistance and to the local ERP network.
