PFM Packaging Machinery was highly commended in two categories of the 2014 PPMA Group Awards, announced on 30 September at the PPMA Show.

In the first category the innovative nature of PFM’s new D-Series servo controlled pouch machine – a world first – won the judges’ commendation while in the second it was PFM’s outstanding customer service record over a substantial period of time.

The D-Series Full Servo stand-up pouch machines break new ground with servo drive and format adjustment employed for the first time in this class of packaging equipment, so giving improved efficiency, consistent quality and dramatically reduced changeover times compared with traditional mechanically driven machines.

PFM expects the machines to fuel an expansion in the use of pouches, particularly where higher quality packaging is required and runs are of medium length upwards. Applications so far include mozzarella and liquid, grated cheese, soup powder and pet food.

The customer service commendation was given for PFM’s support of weighing and wrapping operations – involving 22 PFM machines – at Dairy Crest facilities in Frome and Nuneaton over the past 23 years.

“The high standard of customer service from PFM extends from spares supply, on a same-day basis if necessary, through operator training and engineering support, to project management of entire lines,” says Adrian Strudwick, group packaging engineering manager at Dairy Crest.

He adds: “Dairy Crest runs some of the most stringent acceptance tests in the industry, particularly as far as seal quality is concerned, and I am convinced that PFM’s commitment to meet those standards has created the high level of two-way communication on which the excellent customer service we receive is based.”

PFM’s entry is also supported by Kerry Foods at Hyde, Manchester where eight PFM high speed Scirocco flow-wrappers are employed on a range of sausages.

Service contracts with PFM are also a key element for this customer.

An automatic system to present sandwiches and similar food in the “grab-bag” style of packaging now gaining ground for premium snack products is to be demonstrated for the first time at the PPMA Show by Italian manufacturer PFM Packaging Machinery.

Based on a PFM Mistral Servo flow-wrapper, it replaces the traditional pre-made hand-loaded paper bag with a flow-wrap created from Paper-Like™ film, produced and printed by converters Bemis Europe. Paper-Like™ imitates paper, in both appearance and feel giving an authentic artisan look for optimised brand recall.

“The result is substantially reduced labour and material costs, while preserving the appeal of a hand packed product,” explains PFM sales and operations director Chris Bolton. “The pack is also much stronger than paper” thanks to structural properties of film laminates.

PFM’s Mistral machine is available equipped with a number of product feed options to handle sandwiches or collations of goods such as cookies at speeds up to 60 packs a minute. Reclosure can be achieved with a label.

• PFM Mistral Hermetic seals increase shelf life
• Gas flush facility
• Hygienic construction
• Suitable for high care environments
• easy to operate colour touch screen
• Fast product change over
• High speed packaging

Also to be shown by PFM is the new multi-mode Vetta II bagging machine, able to meet marketing demands for pack versatility and variety by providing over 20 different bag styles from a single machine, in addition to traditional pillow packs.

In addition, there is the ZC1 entry level combination bagger/weigher and the Pearl low-cost servo-driven flow-wrapper.

SPS Italiana Pack Systems SPA (PFM Group) have designed and produced a complete automatic dual-lane line to wrap filled mini sponge cakes arriving in rows of 13 pieces at a maximum speed of 47 rows a minute, giving a total of 600 packs/minute.

The line includes a double row sorting station with a pivoting end equipped with an accumulation system for excess rows, double 90° conveyor belt for transferring product, two in-line feeders with two SPS Regola flow-wrap packaging machines. It is also equipped with a cardboard feeding system.

From dosing to pillow­ bag to box with one single partner.

The PFM ­ CAMA project for packing milk powders stems from the collaboration of two companies that specialize in primary and secondary packaging.
The client needed to have a high ­speed line with an output of 80, 500 g pillow ­bags per minute, to be inserted into a box. High speed needed to complement total sealing tightness.
PFM smartly met the client’s requirements by manufacturing a line consisting of a totally servo- driven, continuous motion vertical VFFS model PFM COMET with automatic reel splicer, fed by a PFM­ AF6000 auger filler.

PFM Comet is the expression of the highest level of PFM technology and design applied to vertical wrappers. The machine has been designed for high speed wrapping and round ­the­ clock applications. It produces pillow pack bags from a reel of heat ­sealable packing film. Its body design, “Hermetic Box”, is protected from infiltrations of liquids and powders. Its Long Dwell sealing systems allows reaching high speed with perfectly tight sealing. The PFM ­ AF 6000 auger filler stands out for its high level of precision.
The powdered milk bags that come out from the PFM COMET undergo a weight check by means of a “check weigher” and are then dropped onto two CAMA Trap Box belts that feed the cartoning machine.

Designed for tacky and difficult to handle products.

The new buckets with circular opening can be fitted to the MBP Series C2 and C5 range of weighers. MBP multi-head weighers in the SWING DOORS versions cleverly solve the problems arising from the product sticking to the walls and bottom of the buckets.

The circular opening movement and the adjustable double scraping device fitted on the buckets allow the product to be perfectly emptied onto the packaging machine or onto the multiple rephaser below it.

The SWING DOORS system can be installed on the whole range of MBP tray re-phasers.

Advantages of this particular solution are evident in a marked improvement of the weighing precision for these difficult to handle products which normally stick to traditional buckets.

Precision and accessibility with sticky products.

The MBP Series C5 range of multi-head linear weighers is designed for sticky products and other goods that are difficult to handle. Unlike conventional multi-­head weighers, the range features parallel weighing channels that are perfectly fed from two vibrating load plates.

The exclusive DMA weighing system featuring in­line memory buckets guarantees maximum precision. The memory buckets work together with the weighing buckets to identify the best weight combination. Two extractable, completely sanitizable belts collect the product dropping from the weigh buckets and convey it to the centre of the weigher. Here it can be linked directly to a vertical packaging machine forming tube or multiple shuttle system feeding a thermoforming or thermo­-sealing machine. Sanitization is one of the Series’ main selling points.

The structure is constructed from AISI 304 stainless steel and the mechanical finish guarantees IP66 protection and can therefore be washed down using pressurized water jets. The frame has rounded corners so there are no parts that are hidden or difficult to reach, which prevents the formation of undesirable bacteria. The configuration of the buckets with the fronts facing the operator facilitate all cleaning and maintenance operations.

For processing particularly sticky products, the Series C5 can be equipped with special SWING DOOR buckets complete with a double scraping device. This eliminates any product left behind thereby maintaining continuous weighing accuracy. The Series C5 is available in several versions while the number of buckets varies according to the speed/precision required. The 6­ head version featuring memory cells produces up to 70 weighings a minute.

Compact, fast, flexible and automatic are the features clients demand of this new, high-speed feeding and packaging line. For PFM the most demanding technological challenge was having to deal with an extremely brittle product with filling, whose production process called for high-speed feeding and packaging combined with a need for extremely fast format changeovers owing to the varying sizes from different product lines and to the quantity of biscuits in a single pack.

The solution proposed by PFM consists of an automatic line made up by a 6-way Shutter Feeder system which collects the biscuits from the process line and stacks them in piles on the feed belt of the PFM FALCON HS flow wrapper.
The competitive advantages of the PFM solution are mainly the capacity of the feeder itself in conveying products of considerably different sizes and in the production speed available even with different formats: the line can reach packaging of 240 piles of 3 biscuits per minute and 210 piles with 4 biscuits packaged per minute.

The top of the range vertical machine from BG Pack, already well known for its extremely high performance, can produce a vast array of different, innovative, easy to open packs; it features extremely fast changeover times and the construction and structure have been redesigned to make it more ergonomic and compact.

VETTA TWO: the second generation flagship machine from BG PACK. The VETTA TWO has been configured to produce the following packs for a well known UK cheese company:

• Pillow bag;
• Stand up bag;
• Stand up bag + Zip;
• Easy Pack + tape;
• Standard block bottom bag;
• Block bottom bag + 4 vertical seals;
• Flex Can + tape.

The VETTA TWO is equipped with two brushless motors controlled by PLC and touch screen panel for control of all parameters. The packaging machine’s software is designed to provide the operator with a simple, logical interface. The machine is constructed to EU or FDA regulations and is easily accessible for maintenance and cleaning.
Maximum consistency and reliability enable the VETTA TWO to achieve extremely high production standards resulting in aesthetically perfect, innovative packs with hermetic seals.

The PFM-CAMA experience in the dairy sector, with a wide range of installed solutions, has once more created a customized system to satisfy the requirements of a leading European yogurt manufacturer.

It’s an integrated automatic packaging line featuring CAMA Triaflex robot, a flow-wrap machine PFM SCIROCCO and a CAMA Wrap Around Case Packer.

CAMA Group’s Triaflex Robot, coupled with an intelligent vision system, can work in three dimensions, with 360-degree head rotation, picking multipacks of yogurt from the production line belt and positioning them correctly into the feeding belt of the PFM flowwrap machine SCIROCCO.

PFM SCIROCCO is a flow-wrap servo assisted horizontal wrapping machine for producing wraps hermetically sealed on three sides from a reel of heatseal wrapping material, it is equipped with the Long Dwell sealing system, which produces hermetically-sealed multipacks of yogurt reaching speed of 80 packs per minute.
Cantilevered machine construction with rounded corners, openable on all sides: thus it’s quick and easy to clean in every point, visible or hidden.
By means of a conveyor, the multipacks are transferred into a CAMA wrap-around case packer.

From feeding to weighing, to primary and secondary packaging: many jobs for one single partner. A project made possible thanks to a successful collaboration. PFM Group and CAMA Group have put their partnership to the service of the most popular South African bakery food company, manufacturing a complete primary and secondary packaging line for breakfast cereals.

The collaboration proved to be successful and the client only had one contact person for the whole packaging process, from the product to the box.

The client needed a pillow-bag type package that could be inserted into a cardboard box, and the line needed to be flexible as the client required three different packages.

PFM suggested using two vertical VFFS packaging machines model PFM Zenith EW, totally servo-assisted and complete with automatic reel splicing device, fed by two MBP weighing machines, Series 14 C1, with their own specialized distribution systems.
The two PFM ZENITH machines have an output capacity of 55, 40 and 30 ppm for the 500 g, the 700 g and the 1,000 g content respectively. The two gusseted pillow-bag packages are dropped on a CAMA Trapbox belt to be conveyed to the feeding system of the cartoning machine.