Case study Integrity Seal adopted by McCain Foods (GB) Ltd McCain Foods (GB) Ltd has adopted Integrity Seal for their range of frozen chips and speciality potato products to enable them to significantly reduce their packaging usage and cost. Project code: RSI-001019 Date: October 2010
WRAP s vision is a world without waste, where resources are used sustainably. We work with businesses and individuals to help them reap the benefits of reducing waste, develop sustainable products and use resources in an efficient way. Find out more at www.wrap.org.uk Written by: Graham Clough, International Food Partners Limited Front cover photography: McCain pack with Integrity Seal WRAP and International Food Partners Limited believe the content of this report to be correct as at the date of writing. However, factors such as prices, levels of recycled content and regulatory requirements are subject to change and users of the report should check with their suppliers to confirm the current situation. In addition, care should be taken in using any of the cost information provided as it is based upon numerous project-specific assumptions (such as scale, location, tender context, etc.). The report does not claim to be exhaustive, nor does it claim to cover all relevant products and specifications available on the market. While steps have been taken to ensure accuracy, WRAP cannot accept responsibility or be held liable to any person for any loss or damage arising out of or in connection with this information being inaccurate, incomplete or misleading. It is the responsibility of the potential user of a material or product to consult with the supplier or manufacturer and ascertain whether a particular product will satisfy their specific requirements. The listing or featuring of a particular product or company does not constitute an endorsement by WRAP and WRAP cannot guarantee the performance of individual products or materials. This material is copyrighted. It may be reproduced free of charge subject to the material being accurate and not used in a misleading context. The source of the material must be identified and the copyright status acknowledged. This material must not be used to endorse or used to suggest WRAP s endorsement of a commercial product or service. For more detail, please refer to WRAP s Terms & Conditions on its web site: www.wrap.org.uk
1.0 Summary Integrity Seal is an innovative, new sealing technology for flexible packaging that could save food manufacturers thousands of tonnes of film per year, while also providing greater seal integrity. It is a retro-fit system for use on vertical form fill seal and horizontal flow wrap machines. Integrity Seal uses new generation weld technology to produce very narrow bead seals that are 1mm wide compared with conventional crimp seals which are typically 15mm wide. This narrow seal typically saves 10% in the length of the pack, delivering substantial film savings. Integrity Seal is superior to conventional seals in strength and quality and seals can be hermetic if required, and improve product quality and give longer shelf life. Other benefits of the Integrity Seal system are improved operational efficiencies and lower manufacturing costs. One of the first companies to embrace this new sealing technology is global frozen food leader McCain Foods, who have recently installed Integrity Seal on all its filling machines in its three main factories in the UK. There is the potential to expand the use of this new technology to many other categories including other fresh produce; cereals; crisps, nuts and fruits snack packs ; bakery products, including cakes and bread, and confectionery. Key facts: The new 1 mm wide welded sealing system has been introduced across all their machines in the UK and retro-fitted to several different machine types. Integrity Seal had been evaluated by McCain over 18 months and tested on several machine types across two factory sites producing many millions of bags to verify its technical performance and cost benefits. Integrity Seal is supplied by International Food Partners Ltd, designed, built, installed and serviced by Ceetak Ltd. Integrity Seal is now available for fitting to any model of vertical bagging machine. Both continuous motion and intermittent motion systems have been developed. The development was funded by WRAP during 2005/07. 2.0 Drivers for change The key drivers for adopting Integrity Seal are to: Reduce packaging material use: 15mm deep crimp seal replaced by 1 mm welded bead seal gives average 10% film area saving due to shorter bag. Percentage savings vary depending on the size of the bag and the width of the original seal. Welded bead seal gives high performance seal on lower gauge films. Typically 14% saving for every 5 micron reduction. Total packaging saving 25 30%. Improve product quality. Improve operational efficiencies and lower manufacturing costs. Deliver a longer shelf life to optimise production and distribution logistics and to reduce food wastage 1. 1 For products which require hermetic seals, Integrity Seal may also enable a longer shelf life to reduce food wastage. Modified Atmosphere Packs (MAP) e.g. the seals for fresh salads and snack products do not leak so the barrier properties of the film can be more effective. Shelf life extension is not relevant where frozen products are concerned and packs do not require hermetic seals. Integrity Seal Case Study 3
3.0 Delivering commercial and environmental benefits for McCain Foods Integrity seal has primarily been adopted by McCain Foods because it allows them to significantly reduce their packaging material film usage by shortening the bag. The initial film saving from the conversion of their existing machines equates to an average 4.4% of the original bag length as large bags were involved and narrow impulse seals were replaced, not crimp seals. There is also potential for additional savings from gauge reduction and further machine modifications. The unique design of Integrity Seal has also delivered substantial machine performance benefits that improve productivity by reducing operating and engineering maintenance down time, reducing consumables, and extending time between film and reel changes. Significant increases in throughput have also been realised because the improved seal quality has reduced re-work which delivers further film savings. The system has also proved the potential for some applications to run 10 15% faster machine speeds (as the seal is made faster than with conventional seals) provided the product feed is not a limiting factor and subject to the product handling. Customer complaints related to failed seals have also dropped significantly, as the seal strength and integrity has improved. Consistency of seal quality is paramount because retailers reserve the right to return whole deliveries if seal defects are found, resulting in substantial product loss, packaging waste and cost. 4.0 The transition to Integrity Seal at McCain Foods McCain Foods (GB) Ltd expressed interest in the system in 2008 and invested in a trial unit for extensive production testing. After 18 months of operations testing on different machines within two of their UK factories, they have decided to convert all their bagging machines in the UK to Integrity Seal. McCain use a variety of vertical bagging machines across three factories in the UK. The machines are of different ages and designs and some of the older machines were getting to the end of their useful lives with poor performance and high maintenance costs. McCain needed a solution which could be fitted across all their machines. Not only does Integrity Seal produce significant film savings it also delivers considerable operational benefits. Integrity Seal is replacing first generation impulse sealing, which commonly uses Teflon tape on the seal jar face, slow heating impulse elements and air cooled jaws (on some machines). It has also been possible to replace air actuated grippers present on some of the older machines which provides additional benefits by completely eliminating these parts. That also means the bag can be further reduced in length by an additional 20 mm. Integrity seal jaws have in-built grippers which are sprung-loaded and do not need compressed air. 4.1 Making the technology work with frozen chips Frozen chips present a particular challenge because if they get caught in the seal area they can cause damage to seal bar and the cutter. This problem was overcome by ensuring that timing hoppers were used to better control the timing of the product drop and the introduction of the spring loaded grippers. The in-built grippers in the Integrity Seal jaws take the force when a chip gets trapped thereby protecting the heater element. The rubbers mounted either side of the cutter also protect the cutter edge and provide a warning if chips become trapped. Integrity Seal Case Study 4
4.2 Technology Transfer and Training Although Integrity Seal is a simple sealing technology, it is quite different from traditional sealing methods and so International Food Partners and McCain ran dedicated training courses at Ceetak Ltd, the designers and manufacturers of the system. At the Ceetak premises in Bedford, 36 personnel (machine operators, engineers and shift managers) were trained over a two day course. Both classroom sessions and hands-on practical sessions (Figure 1) were conducted to give the trainees actual experience of running the system, including diagnostics and fault finding. Figure 1 Technology transfer and training Integrity Seal Case Study 5
5.0 About Integrity Seal Integrity Seal is a simple retro-fit technology for fitting to existing bagging machines and comprises a replacement set of sealing jaws, a control cabinet, water chiller and water handling module (Figures 2-5). Figure 2 Replacement jaws Figure 3 Control cabinet Figure 4 Water chiller Figure 5 Water handling module The rear seal jaw is an integral seal bar comprising the sealing element, gripper bars and cable retaining plate with cables and water hoses. Integrity Seal Case Study 6
5.1 The Rear Jaw Only the rear jaw is heated. As the jaws close, a proximity probe senses when they have touched and a rapid heat pulse is applied to the element. The combination of mechanical pressure and high temperature make a simultaneous seal and cut. There is no separate cutting action. Before the jaws open, the seal is cooled by the chilled water flowing behind the sealing element (Figure 6). The resulting seal is about 1 mm wide and is of high strength and consistency. The sealing element can be cleaned by a number of methods, including alcohol wipe, fibre brush or non-metallic scraper. Figure 6 The rear jaw Integrity Seal Case Study 7
5.2 The Front Jaw The front seal jaw features a detachable front bar and a rear bolster to fit to the parent machine (Figure 7). The unique jaw design (patent pending) comprises a non-metallic cutter held in place with side rubbers and outer bag gripper rubbers. The cutter is designed to be able to turn so all four edges can be used and, as the assembly is a press fit, no tools are required to remove either the cutter or the rubber. The cutter and rubbers are easily cleaned in-situ with an alcohol wipe and can either be cleaned on the machine or the anvil can be detached by pressing the quick release latches at both ends, for easier access. Figure 7 The front jaw Integrity Seal Case Study 8
5.3 The Seal The seal produced has an attractive embossed pattern and is easily inspected for quality (Figure 8). Figure 8 The seal produced by Integrity Seal (top) Figure 8 The seal produced by Integrity Seal (bottom) Integrity Seal Case Study 9
Figure 9 Seal comparison (before and after) The seal produced is stronger than the base polymer so should not peel open (Figure 10). Figure 10 Seal strength Integrity Seal Case Study 10
6.0 Other product applications suitable for Integrity Seal Fresh produce - salads and vegetables (fresh cut and whole). Cereals. Snack packs - fresh fruit, crisps, nuts etc. and confectionery - multi-wraps VFFS or HFFS. Frozen foods - vegetables, seafood. Bakery products - cakes, bread, sandwiches and rolls. Biscuits - individual bars and over wraps. 7.0 Benefits summary Packaging savings of up to 30% are possible by a combination of shortened bags and film gauge reduction. 10 15% faster line speed on some applications. Reduced re-work due to cutting action of the jaws of 0.1-5%. Bags not sealed if heavily contaminated. Reduced jaw contamination when product trapped no burn on. Less frequent reel changes typically 14% more bags per reel. Reduced in-store spoilage and shrink. Improved appearance no over-heated seals. Easier maintenance and less down time. Seals uncontrolled creases or pleats, which commonly occur in crimp seals when the film is compressed by the seal jaws. Cross seals easy to open on oriented polypropylene (OPP) films. Cross seals will support up to 7kg products (e.g. whole potatoes). Works on any thermoplastic film e.g. all film types - OPP, OPP/PE, PET, metalised PET, PLA, mono-layer, coextruded and laminated films. Easily retrofitted to existing bagging machines. The system is independently controlled not part of the machine. Safer to use as the jaws are cold as soon as the jaws are open so reduces the risk of operational burns, plus there is no sharp metal cutter in the jaw, so reduces risk of cuts to operators. 8.0 Further information Integrity Seal International Food Partners Ltd. P.O. Box 3407 Wokingham Berkshire RG41 3ZS Web site: www.ifpltd.uk.com E-mail: info@ifpltd.uk.com Tel (+44) 01189 794840 Integrity Seal Case Study 11
www.wrap.org.uk/retail