Automatic choice

The development of the packaging plant has proved to be a challenge. The manufacturer wanted a bespoke facility that incorporated a sack filling plant and a palletiser. In addition, the new plant had to be fit into an existing building.

Korsnäs Packaging came up with a tailor-made sack filling solution. This ensures that the packing of two distinct products can be dosed using the same net weighter. The weighter can adjust to become a screw-feeding machine, which is suitable for flour products or alternatively a vibrator-dosing machine, which is used for products such as meal, flakes and muesli.

The firm installed a Gripen III robot palletiser with a special developed sheet dispenser. This, says Korsnäs, makes each sack layer smooth resulting in a uniform and compact palletising.

Korsnäs claims that many manufacturers are turning to flexibile palletisation as a quick, low-cost method of filling. This has led to growing popularity for the valve sack, a product that the company is promoting as an ideal form of packaging for products ranging from grain and flour to liquid products.

Valve sacks can be filled under pressure, and they meet the demands of a large filling plant capacity. Optimum filling speed is achieved using strong and porous paper, which allows excess air to escape easily from the sack. Valve sacks from Korsnäs are available in sizes ranging from 3 to 150 litres, with a variety of valve types ranging from automatic closing to sealed closing systems. The sacks can be sealed to make them fully airtight to ensure that the product inside has a long lifetime.

This packaging plant solution was demonstrated at Scanpack 2003 last month and is currently being installed at the Regal Mölle​ facility. This means that Korsnäs Packaging has now supplied 42 packaging systems for open mouth sacks across Scandinavia.

The packaging firm recorded another recent success after its Danish division, Korsnäs Packaging Denmark, was awarded hygiene certification in line with internationally recognised HACCP principles. This certification has been the culmination of many months intensive work on raising hygiene in production and in warehouses.

The certification system guarantees that food safety is controlled throughout the process, starting from suppliers and the manner in which raw materials are transported. The process goes right through to the delivery of manufactured goods to customers. The system covers the entire factory and all warehouses.

Korsnäs​ says that the certification illustrates how the company has moved one step further in the built-up of an electronic, fully integrated management system. Korsnäs Packaging is an international company with manufacturing facilities in several countries. It produces in excess of 900 million sacks per year.