Many supermarkets are now dispensing with flowpacks or plastic trays for packing fruit and vegetables. Banding is a modern alternative. Kranenburg-based supplier project S&P even offers banding material made of paper. At FachPack 2019, it presented a new banding machine for this purpose. The innovation: the system has an interchangeable frame.
Nearly all retail chains are pursuing the goal of reducing the proportion of plastic in their packaging and minimising the use of plastic. Recyclability of packaging. The discounter Aldi with its „packaging mission“, for example, aims to reduce the amount of packaging it uses by 30 per cent by 2025. Rewe, on the other hand, is pursuing a packaging strategy under the motto „Avoid, reduce, improve“. The aim is to use up to 20 per cent less plastic by the end of 2025.
In the fruit and vegetable department in particular, it is relatively easy to Plastic trays or Flowpacks can be saved. Banding is a resource-saving alternative. Pointed peppers, bananas, celery, rhubarb and many other products can be presented in this way.
„Banderoles have a dual function,“ explains André Vois, Product Key Account Manager at Banding machine manufacturer „project Service & Produktion GmbH“ (project S&P). The Kranenburg-based company therefore equips almost all major supermarket chains with banding materials and banding machines. The latest product development hit the bull's eye. According to Vois, the „Proband V 1000“ model is the first banding machine with an interchangeable frame that can process all band widths from 25 to 60 millimetres and in different band thicknesses from 35 to 210 micrometres. The innovation was presented at the FachPack 2019 and has been delivered to customers since October 2019. „The interest in the new Proband V 1000 was greater than we had expected,“ summarises Vois.
Plastic straps are also processed
The Proband V 1000 processes conventional plastic tapes, but is particularly optimised for processing paper tapes, among other things. These form another highlight in the product portfolio of project S&P: for some time now, the company, which was founded in 2001, has been offering its customers Banderoles suitable for foodstuffs made of paper with integrated sealing capability. This paper can be added to the Paper recycling cycle because its plastic content is less than five per cent. This is exceptional, says André Vois. At project S&P, the banding material is also custom-printed with supplier codes, packaging data, product weight and other information according to customer requirements.
André Vois emphasises that the compact, cost-effective system was developed with ease of use in mind. Because Banding is with the Supplier companies often still manual labour. Employees place the products to be processed into the machine, start the process and remove the finished packaged bundle. This calls for an easy-to-understand operating concept and the ability to quickly convert the systems for processing other products.
Product idea was realised in just a few months
The implementation of the product idea went quickly, says Vois happily: „We realised the development very quickly. We had the bander ready in just under six months.“ Initial test runs with customers were successful. There was a great deal of interest even before the official product launch.
Operating the Proband V 1000 is really straightforward. The Machine operator insert the reels with the tapes previously printed at project S&P and - depending on the dimensions of the packaged goods - select the appropriate frame, which is mounted on the banding machine without tools.
The Machine setter have previously configured the most important material data on the colour touchscreen. All that remains for the operator to do is to select the belt material with the High-speed threading device and press Start on the touchscreen. Depending on the sheet size, 25 to 27 cycles per minute are possible. This means that new packaged goods can be inserted almost every two seconds.
In addition to the unique change frame, the engineers at project S&P have invested a great deal of expertise in the belt guide. Machine setters can see this, among other things, in the fact that they Belt tension flexibly. With the Fixed length function The length of a banderole can be determined with millimetre precision. The benefit of this feature: Bands are placed around the product, then tensioned with a reverse feed and precisely sealed.
The way in which the belts are guided through the frame around the product to be wrapped is not visible, but no less spectacular for that. Instead of lots of rollers, there is a kind of Conveyor belt installed, on which the tape with a specifically generated Air turbulence is fixed in place. „This special design feature allows us to avoid static charges,“ says André Vois.
Ultrasonic welding head was developed in-house
When joining the bands, project S&P relies on Ultrasonic whitening technology. No heat is generated and it is particularly suitable for paper with a plastic content. The plastic particles are fused by ultrasound and provide the necessary hold. Project S&P even has the Sonotrode developed for the ultrasonic welding unit itself.
According to André Voi, the use of the banding machine is not limited to the Food sector limited. There have also been enquiries from the wood processing, laundry and pharmaceutical industries. Systems are realised as stand-alone systems or as modules in fully automated environments.
