Cargill

An animal health facility has installed a new, state-of-the-art automated processing line that incorporates induction heat sealing.

In 2015, employees from Cargill, an animal nutrition manufacturer, visited the PPMA Show.

Their aim was to find a company that could create an automated packaging line to enable the fulfillment of higher volume contracts.

Jo Pike, Cargill’s Premix and Nutrition Production Manager, said: “After the PPMA Show we invited several companies to our site to show them the process and to ask how they could help with our vision for a start-to-finish solution. We had to be extremely thorough in our decision making process as it was a significant capital outlay and we had to be confident that it would yield a return on investment within two years.”

Cargill chose to work with Karmelle, a Huddersfield manufacturer, who installed a four-head filling machine, a pick and place screw/push on capper, a twin head labeling machine with wrap around station, a coder, and an induction heat sealer.

The induction sealer, supplied by Enercon Industries, was integral to the line.

Jo said the reason for installing an induction sealer, rather than relying on the cap closure, was to provide tamper evidence and to avoid product leakage if a cap wasn’t screwed on tightly enough.

Jo added: “Enercon Industries is one of the leaders in the induction sealing business and was the partner recommended by every company who pitched for the business. We have bought their equipment in the past and have always have a good relationship with them.”

Cargill selected Enercon’s best-selling induction cap sealer, the Super Seal 100, which creates hermetic seals through a non-contact process. This air-cooled system can seal regular, child-resistant, sports cap and dispensing closures ranging from 20-140mm in diameter.

The new automated line began operation earlier this year (2017) and is specified for a throughput of 36 1l bottles per minute or 15-18 5l bottles per minute.

Speaking about the new facility, Jo said: “We see this line as a blueprint for future developments within our Lichfield facility. It stands for how we want our site to be, going forward. Our goal is to support and promote UK manufacturing by producing a consistently high-quality product on state-of-the-art equipment.”