Dehydrated vegetables are a popular choice for many food manufacturers due to their longer shelf life, preserved nutrients, and reduced weight. Packaging these products efficiently is critical to maintaining their quality while meeting the demands of large-scale production. Smartpack, a leading provider of automated packing machinery, was tasked with offering a customized packing solution for a client specializing in dehydrated vegetables. The client’s requirements included a system that could handle variable weights, deliver high accuracy, and operate at a reasonable speed.
Client Background
Our client is a small-scale food processing company that specializes in producing and packaging dehydrated vegetables. Their product portfolio includes various vegetable types with different densities, making accurate weighing and consistent packaging a challenge. The client required a packaging machine capable of handling weight variations between 150g and 500g while maintaining a speed of at least 8 packs per minute. Additionally, the machine needed to accommodate two specific bag sizes: 300mm x 200mm and 250mm x 180mm.
Challenges in Dehydrated Vegetables Packaging
Dehydrated vegetables are lightweight, fragile, and prone to breakage, requiring a packaging solution that ensures both accuracy and speed. Key challenges faced by the client included:
- Accurate Weighing: Given the weight variations of 150g-500g, ensuring precision in the final pack weight was critical to avoid product waste or underweight issues.
- Packaging Speed: The client required a machine capable of producing at least 8 packs per minute, without compromising on accuracy or packaging quality.
- Bag Size Flexibility: The machine had to be versatile enough to handle different bag sizes (300mm x 200mm and 250mm x 180mm) efficiently.
- Preventing Moisture Exposure: Dehydrated vegetables are particularly sensitive to moisture, requiring air-tight sealing in each package.
Smartpack’s Dehydrated Vegetables Packing Machine Solution
To address these challenges, Smartpack provided a solution featuring a linear weigher combined with a multihead vertical form fill seal (VFFS) packing machine. The solution was customized to meet the client’s exact requirements in terms of weight range, speed, and packaging size.
Key features of this customized solution include:
- Linear Weigher with Dual Vibration Feeding System: The core of the solution lies in the dual vibration feeding system. The linear weigher was designed with a large vibratory tray (big vibratory feeder) responsible for the bulk of the product’s feeding, while a smaller vibratory tray (small vibratory feeder) was integrated to fine-tune the weight after the large feeder stopped.
- Efficiency in Weight Control: The large vibratory feeder quickly delivers most of the product to the weighing system, ensuring the process is fast. When the weight nears the target, the large feeder stops, and the small vibratory feeder begins fine-tuning the weight by adding small amounts of product until the exact target weight is reached.
- Minimizing Product Waste: This dual feeding system ensures that each package is filled with precision, reducing the risk of underfilling or overfilling. This not only meets legal packaging requirements but also reduces product loss.
- Packaging Speed of 8 Packs per Minute: The dual vibration feeding system, combined with the accuracy of the linear weigher, enabled the machine to consistently meet the target speed of 8 packs per minute, even when handling varying weights between 150g and 500g. This speed was achieved without compromising the accuracy or packaging integrity.
- Bag Size Versatility: The machine was designed to handle two bag sizes:
- 300mm x 200mm for larger product packs.
- 250mm x 180mm for smaller product variations.
- Air-Tight Sealing: To protect the dehydrated vegetables from moisture exposure, the machine incorporated high-quality sealing systems. The system ensured that every bag was sealed tightly, preserving the product’s freshness and preventing moisture from compromising the quality.
Implementation and Results
Upon installation, the customized Smartpack solution transformed the client’s packaging process. The dual vibratory feeder system allowed for precise control over the weight of each package, while the versatile VFFS system ensured that both bag sizes could be handled efficiently.
The client saw several immediate benefits:
- Increased Production Speed: The machine consistently produced 8 packs per minute, meeting the client’s production goals without sacrificing accuracy.
- Improved Weight Accuracy: The dual vibration feeding system allowed for precise weight control, reducing product waste and eliminating the risk of underfilled or overfilled packages.
- Enhanced Product Quality: The machine’s reliable sealing mechanism ensured air-tight bags, protecting the dehydrated vegetables from moisture exposure.
- Ease of Operation: The system was easy to operate, with a user-friendly interface that allowed operators to quickly switch between product weights and bag sizes.
Client Testimonial
“Our packaging process has never been smoother. Thanks to Smartpack’s customized machine, we’ve significantly improved our production efficiency while ensuring the accuracy of every package. The dual vibration system has been a game changer for us, especially when handling variable weights. We’re now able to meet higher demand without compromising on product quality or packaging speed.”
Conclusion
Smartpack’s dehydrated vegetables packing machine provided the perfect solution for this client’s unique needs, combining precision, speed, and flexibility. The success of this project underscores Smartpack’s ability to deliver tailored solutions that enhance production efficiency and product quality. Whether you’re looking to improve your packaging process or scale up production, Smartpack offers the expertise and technology to meet your needs.
Contact Smartpack today to learn more about our customized packing solutions!