New WD Series of Product Counting and Dispensing Machines
Cremer announced the launch of a line of hygiene-centric counting machines designed for easy wash-down. The WD Series is designed for precise counting and dispensing of individual food products in a variety of applications where cleanliness is paramount such as poultry, meat, seafood, cheese, confectionary, and bread products. The machines are specifically constructed to thrive in the harsh working environments typically encountered where washdown/wipedown procedures are necessary. Optical counting — as opposed to weight-centric quality control — is designed to guarantee that the net contents in terms of count is 100% accurate for both wholesale and retail packages.
Courtesy of Cremer
Comprehensive Label and Print Layout Quality Control System
Antares Vision has introduced a dedicated high-resolution vision system providing comprehensive inline layout inspection for webs and labels. Designed for easy integration into new or existing labeling, printing or packaging machines, the new AV Print Inspector offers 100% inspection for the increasingly sophisticated, often print-on-demand applications common in modern product marking operations, according to the company. AV Print Inspector offers whole-label inspection at speeds up to 80 meters/minute. The technology supports all major vision system tools for seamless quality control across a wide array of layout features.
Courtesy of Antares Vision
New Compostable Film
DEcoCortec’s EcoShrink Compostable Film is a commercially compostable alternative to common plastic shrink wraps for use in industrial packaging applications. The company reports that EcoShrink is sourced from certified commercially compostable resins and contains 45% biopolymers. After use, EcoShrink can be disposed of in a commercial composting environment. EcoShrink is reportedly shelf and curb stable, with the company stating that it will retain its integrity until disposed of properly. EcoShrink is designed for standard heat-shrinking applications. Users of EcoShrink can shrink wrap their small or large components as normal to conform to the shape of the object.
Courtesy of EcoCortec
Customized Twin-Stream Bundler
DEDL Packaging’s bundlers are used to collate and securely bundle 3-packs, 4-packs, and 6-packs of shrink-wrapped bottles that use low density polyethylene (LDPE) to wrap a range of different products, which allows for faster shelf stocking at retail locations. Once the lanes have been populated by the servo laner, bottles are released into a web of film. Flight bars cycle down behind the product group to seal and cut the LDPE film, loosely enveloping the bottles inside the film. The twin wrapped product groups then convey side by side through a high-efficiency heat tunnel that tightly shrinks the LDPE film around the bottles.
Courtesy of EDL Packaging
Sidebot for High-Speed Collaborative Automation
Wyzo is a pick-and-place robot designed to work safely side-by-side with humans without protective barriers or performance compromises in lightweight applications in the food & beverage, consumer goods, pharmaceutical, cosmetics, automotive, electrical and electronics sectors. The sidebot uses a robotic arm and built-in or external vision systems to find and pick products 80 cycles per minute with a payload of half a kilogram. Wyzo is designed to fit anywhere on the production floor and to easily be moved from one workstation to another. Additionally, the human machine interface is simplified for intuitive use by operators with no prior training in automated solutions.
Courtesy of Wyzo