At a Customer Site

Recently I visited with a customer who has one of our FA-ST servo overwrapping machines as well as an old FA overwrapping machine. The newer FA-ST had replaced two old FA overwrappers running at 40 per minute.  When this customer bought the overwrapping machine we promised them 70 per minute with 100 gauge BOPP film.  I was impressed by how well this eight year old machine ran under circumstances of daily food dust being created everywhere, despite being wiped down eery morning. It was difficult to see the machine running through the guards that were covered with the dust but we were able to see from the operator’s screen that the overwrapping machine was running 82-88 boxes per minute depending on the speed of the incoming product.

excellent folds with 80 gauge film

Improved Performance

What surprised me even more was that it was now running 80 gauge film.   As the picture on the left shows, the tucks and folds were crisp and neat.

Higher Standard of Performance

This is remarkable since few overwrappers can run 80 gauge film and even fewer can run over 80 boxes per minute.

What completely surprised me was to hear from the mechanic how much he misses the old FA overwrapping machine. He loved that most parts were interchangeable and that he got a variable speed based on the incoming product speed.  When I probed him, I discovered that in his opinion it was also finicky machine. He completely forgot that the old FA ran at half the speed with a heavier gauge film than his newer “finicky” over wrapping machine.

One other interesting fact: the knife had run over 31 million cycles without being replaced. What other over wrapping machine could offer that performance?

Is that ingratitude or simply setting a new performance standard?

Check out our FA-ST over wrappers and see what we can do for you.