Food & Drink Process & Packaging Issue 22 2019 | Page 30

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