Increasing the integrity of the bag seal for fresh salad and grated cheese packaging can significantly reduce production costs. The new Zero Reject Sealing System from CFS, which uses an extremely reliable ultrasonic welding technique, delivers an airtight seal even if moisture or product are present in the seal area. The system is an option on the CFS SmartPacker SX 400 vertical flowpacker.

An airtight seal
Unlike conventional heat sealing, the integrity of the ultrasonic sealing process is unaffected by pieces of leaf, moisture or other material being present in the sealing area. Contaminants are effectively ‘vibrated’ clear of the seal area. Under certain conditions, the system actually achieves zero rejects. For suppliers of packaged fresh salad, where the loose nature of the product can drive the packaging reject rate as high as eight percent, the potential cost savings are substantial in terms of fewer man-hours needed to manually empty failed bags, and less film waste. The efficiency of the packaging processes is increased, giving customers a choice of a higher capacity or faster production.

Thinner, lower-cost films
The CFS Zero Reject Sealing System also simplifies making an airtight seal with bags made from thinner films. This is particularly interesting for grated cheese and mozzarella manufacturers, and based on using 80,000 metres of film per year, switching to a 40-micron film instead of 60 micron can yield an annual saving in the order of 36,000 euro. Peter Rietjens, CFS Segment Manager, added, “Apart from the price pressure food producers face to stay competitive, they must also meet demands from supermarket chains to deliver 100 percent sealed bags, and to use lighter packaging to satisfy environmental guidelines. Our Zero Rejects Sealing System addresses all three areas”.

CFS SmartPacker SX 400
Designed in close cooperation with customers, the CFS SmartPacker SX 400 is an intermittent vertical packaging machine that uses a microprocessor-based Servotronic® control system to optimize the seal quality and simplify ease-of-use. The CFS Zero Rejects Sealing System is available as an option, and in line with the Lifecycle Performance promise, is also available as a field upgrade for installed machines. Peter Rietjens added, “Although we have refined and tested the CFS Zero Reject Sealing System for packaging fresh salad, there are many more potential application areas that can benefit from such a reliable and cost-saving process. This is only the start”.

CFS Lifecycle Performance
CFS specialises in performance-focused solutions for the food industry, from a single machine or packaging material to a complete production line for the preparation, marination, processing, slicing and packaging of primarily meat, poultry, fish, seafood and cheese based products.

CFS offers Lifecycle Performance, supporting the performance of food processors here and now and in the longer term. Operational challenges such as variety and flexibility, cost per kg / pack, food safety and environment, are the basis of CFS' product and packaging innovation for improving output and reducing operating cost of food processors.

For more information:
Peter Rietjens, Segment Sales Manager CFS,
T +31 495 457 723, E Peter.Rietjens@CFS.com

CFS Weert B.V.
P.O. Box 296, 6000 AG Weert
The Netherlands
Tel. +31 495 457 777
Fax +31 495 524 125
E-mailinfo@cfs.com, www.cfs.com