Handling a Wide Size Range is a Piece of Cake for Rose Forgrove
A vast range of frozen desserts from individual apple crumbles to multi-portion Victoria sponges is being packed at the Torquay plant of Brakes Manufacturing on a single flow wrapper supplied by Rose Forgrove.
Brakes is a well known supplier of products to the Food Service market throughout the UK and the quality of wrap on its products is considered very important.
With output increasing, the company was looking for a machine to replace a very old flow wrapper which had been used to pack some of its products for many years and one of the companies approached was Rose Forgrove. Having looked at the application, they suggested the Merlin 305 model would be ideal, as with the capability to produce up to 150 wraps a minute not only could it easily handle the output at the Torquay plant but its wide size range would enable it to pack the full product range.
The Merlin has been designed to wrap products ranging from individual bars a few millimetres wide up to family cakes and pizzas up to 300mm wide and 160mm high. It also features a very fast size change, minimising downtime for companies with a wide range of products to pack in relatively small quantities. At Brakes the machine packs from small numbers of individual multi portion desserts to tens of thousands of individual portions during the same shift.
Another feature which makes the Merlin ideal for applications in food and similar environments is its hygienic construction with all contact parts made from stainless steel or other food grade materials. The design also eliminates dirt traps and the whole unit is simple to clean.
At first Brakes was sceptical that a single machine could handle such a wide range of products effectively, but tests on the Merlin proved all the claims to be correct and once the machine was installed it was quickly in production using 7 different film widths.
Apart from the features of the Merlin, the fact the machine is built in the UK and supported by one of the leading machinery manufacturers in the packaging industry provided an added attraction. Rose Forgrove equipment has a legendary reputation for reliability, however, with a constant flow of items with a relatively short shelf life to pack and distribute, Brakes was taking no chances. Not only did the company order a comprehensive spares package to ensure any problems could be addressed quickly but they also took out a service contract with Rose Forgrove under which the machine is regularly inspected, enabling any potential problems to be identified before they can cause a breakdown.