The Italian pack machinery manufacturer said that its new range, unveiled at the Total exhibition, of horizontal pouch form-fill-seal machines can cut changeover times dramatically by using servo drive and format adjustment in place of traditional mechanical systems.
PFM research and development director Andrea Fioravanti added: “The D-Series opens up new horizons in the pouch sector by offering the opportunity to modify cycle times, sealing pressure and cutting pitch as part of the product programme. It offers easy maintenance and cleaning, high performance and extremely short format changeover times.”
This fast changeover is the result of full servo drive which allows the three principal modules of the machines – film unwind, pack forming station and filling section – to be set and synchronised automatically, rather than by manual mechanical adjustment.
According to PFM, on format change, the cutting and side seal assembly that forms the pack not only adjusts automatically to the new size, but simultaneously registers with the pack transport conveyor, which accepts each newly formed pouch into grippers for carriage through filling and final sealing. The usual manual adjustment is eliminated.
“The D-Series range is the fruit of over three years design, development and testing by PFM and is unparalleled in the market in terms of features and performance,” said sales and operations director Chris Bolton.
Bolton added: “The machines overcome the most common problems in pouch production, particularly changeover times where hours taken with traditional mechanically-driven equipment for a new pack format can often be cut to minutes.”
