Propak Asia, the biggest annual packaging exhibition in the region got underway again on June 15th 2022. Autopack participated eager to meet face to face its current on new customers after two years of Covid. Exhibiting two machines representing the mid and high speed range of products.

The SLV machines typically used for collating and wrapping of cartons /soap cakes, rectangular objects, comes in various speed and size versions, up to 300 cartons per min.

The 50SIM, continuous motion overlap seal machine, finds its application in many industries where speed or pack appearance or both are required. Typical applications are packing water bottles, beverage cans, cosmetics and pharmaceutical containers. 

The show as a success providing Autopack with many new leads with new and existing customers  

Promotional cards enclosed in shrink wrapped bundle packs are often used by marketing to entice customers to purchase their brand with bonus offers. In general, card insertion is done manually which requires both, operator skill to achieve satisfactory result and care to avoid contact with hot or moving parts. Autopack has recently developed an addon Module to its 62SLA, UHT multipacking machines for Tetra Briks. The inserter can currently handle cards similar size to visiting card at speeds up to 30 cycles per min.

As automation replaces manual packing at the end of line, it also removes final inspection of pack integrity. Most packaging machines may at some time produce an inferior pack due to operator error or machine malfunction. 

If the line also includes automatic palletizer, this may go unnoticed until the pack is delivered to enduser, leading to claims and returns, hence manufacturers are looking for ways to eliminate or minimize this problem. 

The first course of action is to isolate and eliminate the root cause. But sometimes such faults result from cumulative process errors on line, are very infrequent and hard to trace. In such cases the only way to ensure high degree of elimination is by final check at the end of the line. 

Depending on packing process, for example, case packing, one can use a check weigher with rejection station to eliminate short count. In case of Shrink bundle packing, visual inspection may be better and perhaps less expensive option. 

Autopack have recently developed a visual inspection and rejection station using Artificial intelligence (AI) Camera. The device can detect  missing cap, deformed shape or missing bottle from the Shrink wrapped bundle. 

The system has so far proven reliable and Autopack will soon offer it as a standard option for Autopack range of Shrink, Tray, and Case packing machines.