The SpecSoft Pouch Bandoleer Packaging System is designed to maximize the productivity of two different pouch product packages - Variety Pack and Secondary Ingredient. This is done by reducing labor content, minimizing changeover times and increasing flexibility. SpecSoft has combined its unique expertise in the areas of web printing/converting and packaging to produce a bandoleer handling system that meets the requirements of robustness, ruggedness and reliability that is so important to high volume producers.
Typical variety pack products such as Instant Oats, Instant Breakfast, etc. or even a multi-pack of the same flavor such as Instant Cocoa Mix can all benefit from the bandoleer packaging concept. The variety pack products are typically packaged on a line consisting of several low-speed horizontal pouch filling machines and an automatic cartoner with transfer units to transfer the pouches from the filling machine to the cartoner. For a five-flavor variety pack this involves five pouch fillers, five transfers and a cartoner. Staffing for such a line varies from two people to four people depending on the product and the operating efficiency of the machinery. However, a roll change on any one pouch filler or a problem on any machine in the system causes the entire packaging operation to go down unless extraordinary (costly) measures are taken. Also, when flavor changes are made the fillers must be cleaned resulting in the entire line being down for the cleaning period.
The SpecSoft Pouch Bandoleer Handling System deals with these deficiencies head on. A typical system includes either multiple low speed pouch filling machines or a more productive high speed pouch filling machine, a transfer for each flavor and an automatic cartoner - pretty much the same machinery as in the traditional packaging system described above. However, the pouch filling operations and the cartoning operation are decoupled. Pouches are filled on the filling machines but the individual pouches are not cut. They are left in a bandoleer format. The bandoleer of pouches is fed through a fan folder into a tote. Totes - each filled with a particular flavor of product - are delivered to the cartoning line. At the cartoner a pouch dispenser - one for each flavor - straddle the bucket conveyor of the cartoner. These pouch dispensers pull the bandoleer of pouches from the tote, cut the bandoleer into individual pouches and dispense the pouches into the buckets of the cartoner, thereby creating the required combination of flavors.
The benefits of decoupling these operations are profound. First, if a pouch filler goes down, for a roll change or another problem, all other equipment can continue to run. This in itself represents a significant increase in productivity.
Second, changeovers involving different flavors in the variety pack simply involve bringing totes with different flavors to the cartoner. Downtime for cleaning is minimized or eliminated.
Third, disturbances such as empty pouches, splices, etc. - which result in downtime, waste and/or increased labor in a coupled system - are culled out at the fan folder. Therefore, only good product arrives at the cartoner for final packaging.
Typical Secondary Ingredient products are Hamburger Helper, Cake Mixes, Pastries with icing pouches, Bread Mixes with yeast pouches, etc. Packaging of these products has traditionally been accomplished in one of two different ways. In the case of the Hamburger Helper style product a typical packaging line would consist of a cartoner, a vertical form-fill-seal machine for the noodles (or other base product) and a vertical-form-fill seal machine for the seasoning pouch. Automatic transfer units transfer the pouches from the filling machines into the cartoner bucket.
Products such as bread mixes, which require a pouch of the bread mix and a pouch of yeast and/or nuts involve a cartoner and a vertical form-fill-seal machine for the cake mix. The secondary ingredient pouches are delivered to the packaging line as individual cut pouches in bulk totes. In fact, very often the secondary ingredient pouches are produced at an entirely different location and shipped into the plant containing the cartoning operation. The secondary ingredient pouches are usually manually placed into the cartoner bucket from a bulk loaded tote.
In the case where secondary ingredient pouch filling is done on the cartoning line, the SpecSoft Pouch Bandoleer Handling System provides significant advantages by decoupling the secondary ingredient filling operation from the cartoner. For example, in the case of Hamburger Helper, the base ingredient - noodles - remains the same for all products. However, each different product requires a different carton and a different seasoning pouch. Some products require two or more seasoning pouches. Every time the line is changed over to run a different product, the cartoner is idle for the time it takes to clean the seasoning pouch filler. With the bandoleer system, changeover simply involves changing cartons and changing totes of seasoning pouches. Downtime is thereby minimized and productivity is increased.
For products such as cake mix, where the secondary ingredient is produced at another location and supplied as individual pouches in bulk, the pouches are manually picked from the bulk tote and manually dispensed into the cartoning operation. In this case change over to a different product involves changing the cartoner and sometimes cleaning the base product filling machine. Changing over the secondary ingredient is fast. However, the manual placing of the secondary ingredient pouch in the cartoner buckets is not only labor intensive but often results in sub-standard quality. The automatic pouch dispenser eliminates the need for manual placing. Consistent handling of the pouches and inspection subsequent to dispensing guarantees high quality. And automatic pouch dispensing can match cartoner speeds with one unit.
The SpecSoft system is designed to be very robust and very flexible. It therefore lends itself to high volume, dedicated size applications as well as to the frequently changing needs of a contract packager. The ability to change the cutoff length from the operator interface is an outstanding feature that allows the pouch dispenser to easily process a wide range of product sizes.
Also, the use of ultrasonic echo sensors allows the pouch dispenser to very reliably cut the bandoleer at the seal without the use of a registration mark. Sensing a registration mark on a filled pouch can be difficult due to wrinkles, reflections, color sensitivity, etc. The SpecSoft approach eliminates this sensitivity.
The SpecSoft Tote Loader can be configured with manual tote handling, semi-automatic tote handling or fully automatic tote handling. It can fill to a level or to a count. In the fully automatic configuration, when the desired fill level is reached the bandoleer is automatically severed, the full tote is indexed out, an empty tote is indexed into the loading station and the leading edge of the bandoleer is placed over the edge of the empty tote. Automatic filling then begins.
A recent article in IEEE Spectrum highlighted a recently discovered weakness in some prominent electronic controls. In the late 1990's, IC manufacturers began to use MOS-FET technology as the basis for their integrated circuits. This remains the dominate technology today.
A simple explanation of the MOS-FET transistor may be helpful. (MOS-FET is an acronym for Metallic Oxide Semiconductor-Field Effect Transistor) A MOS-FET transistor is composed of a channel, through which current can flow; and a gate which controls the flow of current by imposing an electric field around the channel.
It is common knowledge that some electronic components deteriorate with age. For example, capacitors can begin to break down and leak as they get old. Some resistors can become brittle with age and crack. But now it has been discovered that the MOS-FET also has an aging problem. As passive components such as resistors and capacitors age they may cause the overall system to slow down or become unstable. But when an active component like a transistor or IC fails, the system fails. It has been discovered that MOS-FETs, over time (about 20 years or so), begin to experience current leakage in the channel. In other words, the gate can no longer turn off the current flow sufficiently. (To be accurate, there is always some small leakage current in a MOS-FET but the system design takes this into consideration). This condition can result in many different consequences: erratic operation, nuisance shut downs, sensitivity to electromagnetic interference and many more.
The conclusion we draw from this is that, electronic control systems may not be as immortal as we once thought. This, coupled with the fact that control system manufacturers cease to provide replacement parts after about ten years, makes it prudent to plan for the eventual control system obsolescence. Planning ahead for the cost and downtime associated with a control system upgrade can minimize the shock of this eventual necessity.