Heat sealing technology cuts downtime

Edited by the Engineeringtalk editorial team Sep 1, 2005

The latest LVH heat sealing technology is being used by Steelite to minimise downtime caused by failures of its sleeve sealing line at its packaging and distribution centre in Stoke-on-Trent.

The latest LVH heat sealing technology, developed and manufacturered by Ceetak, is being used by Steelite, a leading UK supplier of crockery to the catering sector, to minimise downtime caused by failures of its sleeve sealing line at its packaging and distribution centre in Stoke-on-Trent.

As a result, productivity and pack quality have been improved and operating costs and disruption have been significantly reduced.

Steelite supplies the catering industry with a range of crockery and tableware, ranging from tea saucers to 15.5in oval plates.

Based in Stoke-on-Trent, the company's distribution centre is key to its operation.

It receives loose "flat ware" from the manufacturing centre, processes it and packs it.

Each day around 40,000 plates are loaded onto a conveyor and passed through a standard sleeve sealing machine, which prepares them for shrink wrapping before they are stored ready for distribution.

Until recently, the company had relied on a wire-based cutting and sealing system that, as Simon Middleton of Steelite explains: "Caused no end of difficulties, as the wire would frequently break, meaning that it had to be replaced, often up to two or three times a week".

"Each time the wire had to be changed it could take an hour or more, during which time the line was shut down; additionally we were spending a considerable amount of money on replacement parts".

The problems stemmed from a build-up of shrink film on the cutting wire, causing it to stick to the base plates on the machine each time it returned to its starting position.

The wire would eventually snap under the strain, bringing the whole production line to an untimely halt.

"The problem wasn't changing the wire", says Middleton, "it was the downtime associated with bringing the whole line to a stop, fixing it and then bringing it back up to speed".

Acting on advice from an engineering contractor, Steelite contacted Ceetak about its ingenious LVH system.

Based on innovative sealing technology, the LVH system uses a highly accurate, low-mass blade to conduct heat along its contact axis thereby creating high-integrity seals.

The LVH system offers precise, consistent and, more importantly, reliable sealing and cutting.

"It's a sleek, smooth, easily installed piece of machinery that's user friendly", Middleton explains.

"It was recommended to us by an engineering contractor, who suggested that the LVH was the best piece of equipment for us, and he was right".

The LVH system also features thermal insulators that ensure heat is conveyed directly to the sealing area rather than being dispersed into the surrounding environment.

This means there is significantly less energy loss and greater heat concentration along the highly conductive sealing blade.

As the heat is confined and less energy is wasted, the ground-breaking LVH sealing and cutting system can operate at low voltages, typically less than 40V, thereby reducing running costs, simplifying maintenance and making wash down safe.

"We now have a machine that runs consistently and downtime has been eliminated", Middleton declares.

"We have always worked to a budget and production targets, needing to pack a certain quantity of goods on a day-to-day basis; yet since installing the LVH system, we have found that we can consistently achieve and often exceed these targets, so the system has made a big improvement to our productivity while helping to reduce both our operating and replacement parts costs".