News ¦ IDM
Fully automated dividing line for cheese wheels, installed
by iXAPACK GLOBAL
Technology and sustainability
Volpak
April 2020 ¦ international-dairy.com · 25
Complete lines for the cheese sector
iXAPACK GLOBAL
Volpak, part of Coesia, is specialized in the design and manufacturing
of horizontal form-fill and seal pouching machines for
flexible packaging. 2019 has been a key year from a technology
innovation perspective, with major developments in the areas
of high speed and sustainability solutions as well as new services
to that improve machine availability and efficiency.
In this context, the opening of Volpak’s Pouch Lab in the
spring of 2019 is milestone for the industry, offering an unique
place where customers as well as material manufacturers can
study the evolution and the behaviour of different types of
packaging material, while also gathering data on packaging
performance, thanks to the testing equipment infrastructure
provided. Pouch Lab can help develop solutions to increase the
efficiency and structural integrity of the pouch by adopting
specific components based on the type and the shape of the
package, making the reclosing systems more convenient for
the consumer and resistant to transportation.
iXAPACK GLOBAL is a French family owned designer and
manufacturer of weighing, cutting, packaging and overwrapping
equipment for the food and beverage industries.
Completely autonomous in the creation and development
process of their solutions, the company provides turnkey
lines to the dairy sector and cheese manufacturers. In the
past few years, they commissioned dozens of equipment
to the bluechip companies such as Laita, Lactalis, Domalait,
Vergeer Holland, Friesland Campina, Entremont, Long
Clawson Dairy, Starodoubski, Proujani, Arla Foods...
Last year, iXAPACK GLOBAL provided to a customer a
complete fixed weight ultrasonic high speed cutting and
packaging line, composed of different equipment adaptable
to their products and dimensions, for more flexibility.
The line consists of:
• Fully automated dividing line for cheese wheels: This
equipment divides the wheels into fixed weight angular
portions, which drop directly onto the flow wrapper infeed
conveyor or direct into Thermo Trays. Fully automated, the
machine takes care of the entire cutting process from the
wheel input to fixed weight portions (80/minute).
• Portioning line for cheese blocks: In parallel of the dividing
machine, a block cutter and a portioning machine were
installed at this customer’s premises, to manage the Euro
Blocks arrival on the line. First, these 15 kg cheese blocks
of dimensions 500x300 mm are processed by a block cutter
to be cut into loins. Then, a portioning machine takes
over to cut the loins into portions, measuring 100x75mm.
• Flow wrapping machine: After being cut, the portions are
sent to conveyors to be wrapped. Thanks to a new flow
wrapping machine ‚Fresh & Packed‘, it is now possible to
individually pack products while maintaining their freshness
by gas injection into the bag. This machine, which
can reach a speed up to 150 products per minute, is one
of the companies newly launched equipment.
• Weighing-labelling module allowing the weight control of
the portions as well as the application of a top and bottom
label on them. Overweight products are ejected by an ejector
module. To ensure the conformity of each product, a
metal detector was added to the line to check the presence
of ferrous, non-ferrous and stainless steel elements.
In 2019 Volpak installed the first SC+ continuous pouching
machine, achieving 99% efficiency only after a few weeks.
The SC+ produces 400 ppm (photo: Volpak)