New shrink wrappers save packaging material, rework, downtime and labor for dessert manufacturer.
The primary product in the Bristol location is ready-to-eat desserts such as pudding and gelatins. Much of the output goes into packs consisting of 12, 4-oz. single-serve cups that are multipacked in a low-rise corrugated tray and shrink wrapped. With the plant running nearly 24/6, management wanted to focus on bringing more efficiency to the shrink-wrapping operation. "We had been using shrink packaging for about five years and simply outgrew the L-bar machine technology we started with," says Fink. "Our growth was gradual, so we compensated with time and labor to maintain output with the packaging equipment we had. We endured a lot of downtime for changing the seal wires four to five times a day, and we had a lot of rewrap resulting from bad seals."