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Leafy Green Packaging Line
Client Request:
- Client outgrew their existing capacity and therefore needed a new facility to house a new packaging line
- They required a solution to package baby spinach and spring mix with a targeted capacity of 1200 kg/hr
Objective:
- Provide a fully integrated dual line solution from unloading the crate to case packing the final product
Discovery:
- Due to the targeted capacity, 2 production lines were required
- Two complete processing lines were needed to unload, prewash, sanitize, and air drying to <3% moisture for immediate packaging
- Optical sorting of the product for rejection of mold and foreign bodies to ensure quality
- Ability to package the product into resealable trays (75%) or retail bags (25%)
- Due to a high level of leakers with the existing bag lines it was apparent that a different solution to address the leaker rate
- One line was dedicated to trays and the other needed to be able to be changed over to package into trays or bags
- Filled packages needed to be metal detected and check weighed for accuracy
- Finally, top and bottom labels had to be applied
Solution:
• Several obstacles needed to be addressed in order to optimize the space and utility constraints of the facility
• Turatti was used for the process portion
• Crate unloading
• Flume product transfer conveyor
• Pre-wash, wash two/sanitize
• Dewatering
• ECO Air-drying systems
• After drying the product was transferred to packaging
Line 1 Product Flow:
- Urtasun Vibratory Shaker
- Raytec Spray Optical Sorter
- Multipond Combination Weigher
- Tray Sealer, top & bottom Labeling
- Anritsu Checkweigher/Metal Detector Combination System
- Rotary Packing Table
Line 2 Product Flow:
Included all of the above processes as well as the ability to transition the Multipond Scale 8 meters between the GEA UltraSonic SmartPacker or Tray Sealer
The GEA UltraSonic SmartPacker was used to eliminate the leaker rate issue
• Abbey Equipment Solutions provided all the layout drawings to the construction company and acted as the project integrator