According to a recent industry study on the causes of downtime for Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) companies, product to product changeover accounts for over 22% of downtime,* with operator error coming right behind at over 21%.
As finding, attracting and maintaining skilled labor continues to be a hot topic throughout manufacturing, CPGs have been reaching out to packaging automation OEMs to seek solutions that will help to alleviate some of the issues through automation. These discussions lead Texwrap to has develop optional features on their shrink wrapping equipment that help decrease the dependency on highly trained workers, while also decreasing labor hours, and increasing changeover efficiency.
CHANGEOVER ASSIST PACKAGE
The most comprehensive option is the Changeover Assist Package. The Changeover Assist Package is a game changing collection of recipe-driven automatic adjustments tailored to your product requirements. The recipe can adjust the inverting bar, film feed, side seal conveyor, and end seal, as well as adjustment of integrated tunnel controls.
The growing popularity of this feature is no surprise as each component is moved to the precise programmed location dictated in the recipe. Thus, the opportunity for operator error is basically eliminated. And, all the adjustments happen simultaneously, so your equipment is up and running quickly.
Other components of Texwrap’s changeover reduction offering are the Manual Film Splice and the Automatic Film Splice film cradles.
MANUAL FILM SPLICE
The Manual Film Splice and Film Folder is one of Texwrap’s most popular options and is available for all Texwrap shrink wrappers. The Manual Film Splice provides a dramatic reduction in labor and lost production time due to roll-to-roll changeover.
The manual splice system holds two rolls of film in the film cradles. One roll of film is threaded and in use. As the threaded film is depleted to the minimum functional amount, film from the second roll of film is pulled to the manual splice area, a length of film from the nearly depleted roll is laid on top, and a heating bar is lowered on the film to join the rolls. As the film is jogged through the wrapper the new roll of film is threaded through the rollers. Not only is the changeover time and labor reduced, but there is no chance of the film being threaded improperly.
Another plus of the manual splice system is the use of single wound film. Single wound film provides twice the film footage per roll compared to center folded film. So, the need to change rolls is reduced by half, as is the downtime due to roll-to-roll changes.
AUTOMATIC FILM SPLICE
In fast paced operations when one piece of equipment is down, the ripple is felt up and down the line, significantly impacting productivity. To keep your shrink wrapper working even when changing rolls nothing compares to Texwrap’s Automatic Film Splicer. At speeds up to 200fpm, the Automatic Film Splicer splices clear or print registered films without stopping. Additionally, the Automatic Film Splicer eliminates micro stops, a major contributor to downtime occurrences.
Texwrap’s packaging innovations are helping producers of CPGs reduce downtime due to product changeover and overcome the shortage of skilled labor.
*PMMI’s Packaging & Predictive Maintenance Report, 2021