squeezed by inflation, surging commodity
costs and price-sensitive consumers.
The Plimsoll survey reports that last year
each fresh produce firm averaged pre-tax
margins of just 1.2%.”
Capable of loading up to 180 top seal
punnets and top seal trays per minute
into full and half-sized crates, as well
as lipped boxes, the BR Punnet Packer
Series maximises throughput by collating
product into a full layer, lifting and
lowering in one seamless motion into the
crate or box.
David explains. “The most common
dilemma in punnet packing is not the
movement of products, but managing
the container in which they are being
placed. For example, with soft fruits,
K37 is the most popular punnet size.
However, because of the dimensions -
The cycle time is literally lift, lower, “Given the additional uncertainty faced
push, lift, lower, push - next container, with Brexit and uncertainty over export
that is narrow at bottom.” emphasises David. and trade tariffs, the future viability
He continues: “With punnets we are Designed as a versatile, standalone
184x118x35mm - this size especially is a
tight fit when placing into a tapered crate
dealing with a pack shape that can vary
by three millimetres. This can cause
punnet edges to catch, overlap or flip
system, David believes that the BR
Punnet Packer has cracked another
industrial automation drawback. “A lot of
of fresh produce companies rests on
boosting productivity, being able to adapt
swiftly to new supplier arrangements
and packing formats, with minimal
investment and the quickest ROI.
when inserting into retailer containers. case loaders feature bespoke elements and are designed around a specific “By matching these line speeds we
This in turn slows the line down while an line. This affects design, build, lead and can ensure that loading containers is
operator manually resolves the issue and installation times, plus makes projects no longer detrimental to efficiency,
flattens the layer, before the next layer higher risk, not to mention costlier.” productivity and therefore profitability.”
can be stacked on top.
The BR Punnet Packer can effectively be With a price tag of £87,500 for the
“For many years this has held punnet interlocked with any top seal machine on 120ppm model - almost twice the speed
packers back from investing in a fully the market. of semi-automated case loading and
automated system,” claims David.
Many of the latest tray seal models
20ppm faster than the company’s Unipick
automated case loading - Brillopak
To resolve this longstanding issue, handle a wide variety of pack sizes and Brillopak’s engineers have utilised sealing formats and the BR Punnet traditional mechanical techniques Packer works in synergy with all these redeploying them in innovative ways developments automatically adjusting Through labour savings and productivity
to both increase speed and maintain to the different packs sizes and case gains alone, David estimates that the
consistency of packing. Layers are formats In addition to soft fruit punnets, BR Punnet Packer Series can deliver a
collated to the side of the container. the system is equally adept for loading 12-month return on investment.
is making automation affordable and
accessible to SMEs.
tray sealed fruit, vegetables, meats, fish
A crate-sized vacuum end-effector then
and shellfish into containers.
gently suctions the entire layer, lifting
Brillopak
it just enough for a supporting plate to “Tray sealing is rapidly becoming the retract, before lowering and pressing the most popular method to maintain product punnets gently into place in the crate. freshness, with products coming out of +44 (0)1622 872907
Nothing protrudes and as a result no the sealing machines at rocket speeds,” manual intervention is required. adds David. [email protected]
www.brillopak.co.uk
FDPP - www.fdpp.co.uk 9