Flexible and fully automatic: Tray sealing line for convenience products

The trend towards convenience products remains unbroken. While the foodservice industry primarily focuses on ready-to-cook items, consumers mainly inquire about foods that only need to be heated in the tray packaging or are already ready to eat. To meet the growing demand for turnkey end-to-end solutions for packaging convenience products, Multivac is presenting a complete tray sealing line at interpack 2014, including depalletizer, conveyor belt feed, filling, inspection, and labeling.

Convenience products must not only taste good and be easy to consume; they should also look appealing. The tray packaging plays a decisive role in purchasing decisions. Package formats should enable easy preparation and consumption — for example, through oven- and microwave-compatible trays or multi-chamber trays. At the same time, they should present the food attractively, convey brand values, and make the product benefits recognizable.

To enable manufacturers and packers of convenience products to achieve seamless automation of the packaging process, Multivac is presenting a complete tray sealing line at interpack 2014, including depalletizer, conveyor belt feed, filling, inspection, and labeling.

Tray Sealer Line for Packaging Convenience Products

The core of the line is the fully automatic T 600 tray sealer, a machine in the mid-performance range that seals up to 40 trays per minute. Regarding the types of packaging processes, the T 600 is very flexible: the model can produce MAP (Modified Atmosphere Packaging) with and without LID film, skin-isopack packaging, as well as slicepac packaging.

The separation of trays is performed by a Multivac Tray Denester (MTD), which is characterized by lightweight construction and ease of handling. The MTD complies with Multivac Hygienic DesignTM and is therefore well-suited for use in cleanrooms. The depalletizer can be very easily adjusted for different tray formats, making it highly versatile. Its control system is integrated into the user interface of the T 600's Multivac HMI 2.0, so a separate terminal is not necessary.

An endless belt conveyor from Multivac, the MDC (Multivac Drag Chain), ensures the precise positioning of trays into the tray sealer's gripper.

The filling of the trays is carried out by a filler from the SD-M series by Maschinenfabrik Leonhardt GmbH. This is especially suitable for gentle filling of delicate and non-pumpable foods. Its dosing capacity ranges from 30 to 60 cycles per minute.

Quality control is performed by a contactless X-ray inspection system from Multivac Marking & Inspection. With an inspection speed of up to 120 m/min, the system checks the packaging for foreign objects, shape, and completeness.

For labeling the trays, an integrated transport belt labeler L 301 of the new generation from Multivac Marking & Inspection is used. It is equipped with a new-generation label dispenser, which is distinguished by high precision, among other features. The operation of the L 301 is controlled via the HMI of the tray sealer.