Ilapak Helps Fox’s Out Of Crunch
Situation
When one of Fox’s high speed flow based on a very heavy duty mechanical
wrappers succumbed, leaving the biscuit platform and 12.5mm thick plate frame
manufacturer with a financially crippling construction. This ensures stability and
downtime situation on its Rocky bar smooth operation of the jaws at very
line, Ilapak came to the rescue. One of high speeds,” explains Chris Gee, sales
the few flexible packaging equipment manager HFFS at Ilapak.
manufacturers with the capabilities to
supply a 1000 biscuits per minute line,
Ilapak reacted quickly when Fox’s wanted
to purchase an exhibition model Delta
Systems & Automation (DSA) Eagle flow
wrapper.
Fox’s Rocky chocolate biscuit bar brand
is a household name in the UK, listed
with all the major multiples and enjoying
a loyal following of consumers. To keep
supermarket shelves fully stocked, the
biscuit manufacturer has four lines
operating 24/7 at speeds of 600 bars
per minute at its factory in Kirkham,
Lancashire.
With some of the equipment on these
lines nearing the end of its lifespan, last
year, Fox’s visited Interpack to research
upgrade options. Ilapak’s US-built DSA
Eagle flow wrapper was on display at the
show, and Fox’s was impressed with its
The Eagle also deploys advanced sensor
technology to perform a profile check of
each biscuit just before it enters the flow and downstream equipment that was
wrapper, as uniformity is imperative at operating on different and older control
these high speeds. platforms.
“The system checks length, height and “A lot of equipment suppliers shy away
weight of each bar and any products from the challenge of integrating a new
that fall outside of the programmed machine into an existing line where the
parameters will be rejected before they control systems in use are old as it isn’t
enter the flow wrapper and cause jams or easy to get machines to communicate
blockages,” says Chris. with one another when, essentially, they
Before Fox’s had a chance to resume
discussions with Ilapak, in August, one
of its high speed flow wrappers broke
down and due to obsolescence, couldn’t
be fixed.
With throughput down by 40%, Fox’s
couldn’t afford to waste any time
organising a replacement and Paul was
on the phone to Ilapak to see if Fox’s
are talking in different languages. In this
case, it was a lot of work to get the flow
wrapper to interface with the upstream
accumulation tower and feeding system
and the downstream over-wrapper,”
explains Chris.
By December, the line was back up and
running with the new flow wrapper in
place.
could buy the DSA Eagle he had seen at Fox’s is now looking at upgrading its other
in excess of 1000ppm. Interpack. flow wrappers to DSA Eagle systems as
“There are very few flow wrapper At the time, the flow wrapper was
rare ability to wrap biscuit bars at speeds
suppliers who can guarantee speeds
in the region of 1000 ppm. A lot of
companies we spoke to said they couldn’t
get near this target,” says Paul Nolan,
chief engineer at Fox’s Kirkham site.
Engineered for 24/7 production
environments, the DSA Eagle
incorporates features such as automatic
splicing and expanded touchscreen
diagnostics for efficiency excellence.
Heavy duty construction and the design
of its feeding system are also key to the
being shipped back across the Atlantic.
Arrangements were made to get in on
be heavily involved.
“I value Ilapak’s openness, their readiness
American soil and on arrival at London to provide solutions and the partnership
Heathrow airport, it was immediately we have. It’s a rare combination and I
transported to Kirkham for installation don’t think we have that with any other
and in-situ trials. equipment supplier. The pace at which
“We were losing a significant amount
of money due to the reduction in
Ilapak moved and their willingness to help
us out was admirable,” says Paul.
throughput, the decision was taken
to complete trials on site, instead of
America, due to time constraints” recalls
Paul.
at high speeds. Installing the flow wrapper on the
“There is a lot of vibration when running line was far from straightforward, as
30 FDPP - www.fdpp.co.uk
plant – projects in which it says Ilapak will
a return flight as soon as it landed on flow wrapper’s exceptional performance
at these kinds of speeds. The Eagle is
well as future-proofing the rest of its
it had to be interfaced with upstream
Ilapak
[email protected]
0208 797 2000
www.ilapak.co.uk