PFM UK has been voted Packaging Machinery Manufacturer of the Year in the PPMA Group Industry Awards announced at the Total Exhibition in early June. The award recognizes PFM’s business strategy of increasing investment in innovation as a means of maintaining growth at a time of economic slowdown, a policy that brings customers the benefit of improved machinery at an excellent cost/performance balance,” says sales and operations director Chris Bolton.
“Our R&D budget now accounts for over 3 per cent of annual turnover – funding an R&D team of over 30 – and has seen significant technical developments in both higher speeds for existing packaging styles as well as new methods of improving presentation and reducing the packaging materials required.”
At the same time, PFM UK has refined its maintenance arrangements with analysis of service data now providing a predictive element to provide users with more accurate service intervals, lower cost, and reduced risk of breakdown.
One of the key areas of development work at PFM UK has been to obtain higher speeds for bagging machines aimed at specific growth areas in the European food market: modified atmosphere packaging and stand-up display bags.
Some of this was on show at Total where PFM UK also announced a series of fully-servo driven pouch machines – the first of their type – able to cut changeover times dramatically.