November/December 2018
opening and tampering, and also protects product originality.
A fi lled Ecobulk is always transported and stored with a closed and
secured outlet valve. In order to open the valve, the customer must
fi rst remove the screw cap. This removes the red PE disk and reveals
the seal foil as a concealed originality protection. Until now, there
have been two options to secure the outlet valve: a steel safety screw
or a plastic safety clip. In day-to-day operations both were
unsatisfactory, as an additional tool was needed to open the screw
and there was always the risk of the screw getting lost. This also
applied to a small component like the safety clip, which posed the
additional risk of the clip being dropped when the valve was opened
making it impossible to secure the valve at a later point.
The new Schütz safeguard system consists of a yellow tab that is
integrated in the valve between the casing dome and the handle. It is
easy and intuitive to use, the company says. The latch is simply
pressed up with a thumb; no tools are required and there is no risk of
parts being dropped or lost. Pressing the latch up releases the handle
of the outlet valve which can then be turned to discharge product.
After discharge the handle is moved back to its original position to
close it. The tab can now be pressed down again; it will snap into
place to lock the outlet valve easily once it is closed.
The option of reclosing the container easily and quickly is a great
benefi t. Transport laws demand that the container is securely closed,
and this is also required under the terms of the Schütz Ticket Service
when the container is collected.
Sealed for safety
Another feature that provides additional protection is Schütz’s
originality sticker. This sticker is attached to the closed lock at the
factory. The seal breaks when the tab is pushed up for the fi rst time
to open the container, instantly showing that the valve has been
opened. The originality strip protects the fi lling product from
tampering. It effectively rules out the risk of contamination and
protects the original quality.
All EVOH containers already come with the new safeguard system
as standard. The fi nal conversion of all other valves will take place
successively during the course of the year.
Peelable seal foil
Different fi lling products all have different requirements when it
comes to packaging. Ultimately, though, all forms of packaging have
one central purpose in common: to protect the product along the
B ULK D ISTRIBUTOR
Industrial Packaging
15
off by hand, without the need for any additional tools. A tab on the
upper half is lifted and pulled to one side, thus removing the seal
completely – with practically no residue! This new, optimised variant
leaves no foil remnants, meaning that IBCs with this seal are ideal for
packaging products that are sensitive to metal and products in the
food industry. The new, peelable seal also means that no deposits of
the fi lling product can accumulate behind the cut edges.
Another useful aspect, especially for longer storage periods, is that it
is impossible to discharge product without destroying the foil. Users
can see at a glance whether the outlet valve of the IBC has been
opened. The fi lling product is continuously protected against
contamination risks.
The new seal foil is material-compliant for contact with food.
Initially, Schütz will equip all outlet valves for the Foodcert and
Cleancert lines with the new seal foil.
Automatic lock
(Above) With the tab the new seal foil
can be simply peeled away by hand – no
additional tools are needed
(Left) Schütz says the Automatic Lock is
the only seal cap system that is suitable
for use with automatic drum fi lling
systems
entire supply chain. Tampering
or contamination must always
be prevented.
For IBCs, the focus here is
particularly on the outlet
valve. One of the key
components used on outlet
valves to ensure the safety of high-quality fi lling products is a seal foil
which has to be removed by cutting prior to initial discharge. In
everyday use, though, this is a less than satisfactory, fi ddly solution;
also, it can never be ruled out that the fi lling product comes into
contact with metal in the aluminium residues of the foil in the cut
edges and the facing side of the outlet valve.
So Schütz has introduced a practical solution – the peelable seal foil.
This seal foil consists of several layers of high-quality materials –
mainly PET – and combines easy handling with increased quality
protection.
The handling concept is intuitive: the round seal foil is simply peeled
Schütz’s range of drums was also featured at FachPack: a range of PE
and steel drums were on display. A new addition to this range is the
Automatic Lock, a seal cap system with originality protection. This
system uses a seal of originality to protect fi lling goods against
tampering and contamination. The plug cannot be opened without
destroying the seal cap as the inner seal ring is fi rmly incorporated in
the cap. As an added benefi t, Automatic Lock can be fi tted
automatically or manually.
Schütz says the Automatic Lock is the only seal cap system that is
suitable for use with automatic drum fi lling systems and it offers
numerous other advantages over conventional solutions. In contrast,
standard plastic caps only close the bung opening without providing
seal of originality, meaning that tampering can remain undetected.
With Automatic Lock the seal cap is held by the plug and not by the
bung. The broken seal cannot be repaired, and any tampering is
instantly visible.
Compared with steel caps which are also fi tted with a seal function
to prevent tampering, key advantages of the new plastic system are
the hygienic and non-corrosive material. Accordingly, Automatic Lock
is certifi ed for use on Schütz’s Foodcert drums for food applications.
In addition, the new seal cap system is user-friendly: the integrated
ring pull does not require an extra tool for opening, as is the case with
steel sealing caps.
www.schuetz.net