As a co-packer, Tirolpack GmbH specialises in cutting, slicing and packaging hard and semi-hard cheese for the retail and food industries. In line with its quality philosophy, Tirolpack has installed a SealScope inline seal seam inspection system for its flow-pack packaging line for cheese segments.
Tirolpack was founded in Schlitters in 2018 with the vision of packaging local cheese specialities independently and regionally. Today, Tirolpack GmbH claims to be one of the most modern packaging companies in Europe, guaranteeing a consistently high level of innovation through continuous investment in maintenance and modernisation.
Success through quality
To ensure high quality standards, all production processes are fully monitored and documented by a comprehensive quality assurance system. The company fulfils the strict standards of IFS as well as various other industry certifications, enabling it to award its products with the corresponding quality seals.
Tirolpack operates several production lines that process cheese blocks and round loaves in various sizes. In addition to the traditional cut and sliced formats, the company's lines also produce wedge-shaped pieces. Tirolpack has equipped the Ulma Flowpack line with an inline seal seam inspection and monitoring system specifically for the line that packs cheese with an Alpine herb crust to ensure the best seal seam quality.
Sealed seam inspection for flow packs
Maintaining a protective atmosphere is crucial for the shelf life of fresh food packaging, such as cheese. Quality control of the seal seam is therefore crucial to prevent leaks or open packaging. This applies in particular to fully automated end-of-line production, where in-line inspection of the sealed seam in real time is crucial.
„Before realising the project, Tirolpack consulted several Engilico references in Austria to assess SealScope's capabilities.“
David Berger, Operations Manager at Tirolpack
The innovative SealScope system uses retrofitted sensors on the sealing jaws to detect faults in the seal, such as wrinkles, cheese or, in this case, herbs, which can lead to leaks or open packaging. The system checks the seals during the process and if faults are detected, the affected cheese packs are automatically ejected from the conveyor belt by an ejection system. These rejected products are then inspected to determine if they can be repackaged, ensuring minimal waste. An important advantage is that SealScope can be integrated into most heat-seal packaging machines, regardless of the machine brand.
Monitoring the packaging process
Another important feature of the SealScope system is the ability to monitor the entire packaging process. The system collects real-time production data for each product type and tracks key figures such as the number of good and rejected packs. By measuring each individual pack, it can identify trends, such as increasing reject rates or deviations in seal quality, which can indicate potential problems in the packaging line. If an increasing rejection rate is detected, the system can automatically interrupt production so that proactive maintenance work or adjustments can be carried out before the defects increase. This helps to prevent the production of faulty packaging and minimise delays.
Should support be required, Tirolpack can rely on the remote support provided by TeamViewer, which allows engineers at Engilico's headquarters to access and control the SealScope system. This allows for quick troubleshooting and interaction and avoids costly and time-consuming on-site support visits.
Sustainability as a guiding principle
As food, and cheese in particular, is a valuable resource, Tirolpack is committed to sustainable business practices that conserve resources and protect the environment. Inline seal inspection during production fits in with this philosophy, as the number of potential leaking packs is greatly reduced. In addition, rejected packaging with defective seal seams can often be repackaged, which also leads to a reduction in waste. The monitoring function prevents the system from stopping production when the rejection rate increases, avoiding unnecessary waste of packaging film and the need for manual sorting, it says.
„We are very satisfied with the SealScope system. This is a real value-adding inspection technology as it not only improves the output quality but also monitors the entire packaging line. We are definitely considering equipping more of our packaging lines with this innovative inline seal inspection technology.“
David Berger, Operations Manager at Tirolpack
Source: Engilico
