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Flow Wrapper Speed and Real Throughput
Christoph Recher, Sales Manager, and Thomas Czioska, Head of Sales & Marketing, of LoeschPack explain what determines a flow wrapper's real throughput. Recher says constant feeding, supported by buffering systems, gives constant quality, and that reliability is very important. Czioska says that with cold seal film a regular cereal bar can run at 800 to 1,000 products a minute, and smaller products up to 3,000, depending on dimensions.
Key takeaways
- Christoph Recher says constant product feeding gives constant quality, buffering systems help, and constant stops and starts can cost quality.
- Keeping a fast machine fast depends on experience and on materials, such as steel or aluminum, that can bear high accelerations and loads, according to Recher.
- Thomas Czioska says a regular cereal bar on cold seal film can run at 800 to 1,000 products a minute and smaller products up to 3,000, with film speed calculated from product dimensions.
Common questions
- How many products per minute can a flow wrapper run?
- According to Thomas Czioska of LoeschPack, it depends on the packaging material and the product dimensions. With cold seal films, a regular cereal bar can run at around 800 to 1,000 products a minute, and smaller products, such as Celebrations, can go even higher, up to 3,000 products a minute.
- How do you calculate flow wrapper film speed?
- Thomas Czioska of LoeschPack says calculating film speed is quite easy: use the product's measurements to calculate the film speed, and from that you know how fast the machine can run. You then also have to consider the machine's own limits and whether the in-feed can actually feed products at those speeds.
- Why does a flow wrapper run slower than its rated speed?
- Christoph Recher of LoeschPack explains that constant product feeding gives constant quality, and buffering systems help with that. If a machine has constant stops and starts, quality can suffer. Keeping a fast machine fast depends on experience and on materials, such as steel or aluminum, that can bear the accelerations and loads.
Transcript
Tom Rougeux, President, Piepenbrock Packaging
So how does a product feeding and spacing limit the real speed of a flow wrapper?
Christoph Recher, Sales Manager, LoeschPack
Well, if you feed products constantly to a machine, you will in the end get a constant quality. Buffering systems help a lot with that. If your machine causes constant stops and starts, you might lose quality in the end.
Tom Rougeux
So it sounds like if you were designing a packaging machine, it might be better to think about maybe not buying the fastest machine on the market, but keeping a good running machine working consistently throughout the day. Would that be a fair statement?
Christoph Recher
Absolutely. Reliability is very important.
Tom Rougeux
So what makes a flow wrapper line reliable at high speed, instead of just merely what the brochure says it can possibly produce? What goes into keeping a fast machine working fast?
Christoph Recher
I think it's the experience and the quality of the material we are using, that it can accommodate these high speeds and is not breaking down constantly because it cannot bear the accelerations, for example.
Tom Rougeux
So the acceleration of the film speed, when it is formed, is a big deal, huh?
Christoph Recher
Not just that, also the material or the steel which we are using, or aluminum, also needs to bear a lot of load.
Tom Rougeux
How fast do these machines run? What kind of production volumes are available from a LoeschPack machine? When you're talking about a cereal bar or a candy bar or something like that, what kind of machines should a customer expect?
What kind of speed should a customer expect?
Thomas Czioska, Head of Sales & Marketing, LoeschPack
It always depends on the packaging material. That's one question. If you're talking about cold seal films and on a cereal bar or a chocolate bar, it can go up to...
depends also on the size. If you're talking about a regular cereal bar, I would say 800 to 1,000 products a minute. If you go to smaller products like a Celebration or things like that, then it's even higher.
It can go up to 3,000 products a minute. It always depends on the dimensions.
Tom Rougeux
How do you normalize those numbers? Is it film speed, meters per minute? Is that an easy way to understand small products versus bigger, longer products?
Thomas Czioska
Yeah, you have to calculate the film speed. It's quite easy to do that. Therefore, you need the measurement of the product itself, and you can calculate the film speed, and you know how fast the machine can run.
Then you have the limitation of the machine itself, but you also have to take a look at the in-feed, so if you are able really to feed the products with these speeds.
