Shrinkwrapping Users Should Verify Systems' Values

According to Barry Tucker, chairman of Aetna UK, shrinkwrapping is a very mature market, which began in the early 1960s, grew rapidly through the 1970s and 1980s.

According to Barry Tucker, chairman of Aetna UK, shrinkwrapping is a very mature market, which began in the early `960s, grew rapidly through the 1970s and 1980s, to the alarm of the corrugated board industry.

The market then consolidated through the 1990s when patents and original ideas became public property and technology helped to perfect the method.

Now in this first decade of the 2000 millennium there are too many manufacturers offering similar systems chasing too few opportunities, said Tucker.

And with a manufacturing base consolidating and contracting at an alarming rate, there is little from which to choose in the UK apart from weight of metal, price and, ideally, locally-based service and customer support, he added.

In asking how potential purchasers set about sorting out the most desirable suppliers, Tucker commented that Aetna UK, which has built a sound customer base with the Dimac range around the world, suggests a list of values as the basis on which to arrive at that optimum decision.

He asked if the machine operators were going to be happy with the system and if they could they easily and safely react to any product collating problems that occasionally occur inside any system.

Can they get in on either side, for instance? Further to that, in terms of maintenance, how simple is regular house care of the system and are all areas and assemblies easily reached for regular or emergency attention when necessary? Importantly, he suggested, is the system reliable? Are the references genuine and has there been a discussion with the operators? Tucker also commented that flexibility is important in terms of how quickly and simply size and format changes can be made and how many change parts are required.

He also assed stressed the importance of adding blocks to expand the machine's capability in the future.

For example, a user might begin with film only on a shrinkwrapping system and subsequently expand with a tray packing module should it become necessary.

Accuracy could be an important consideration if controlling print registration was an issue and would the user be working with speeds of up to 60 packages per minute? He also added that it is important that users can precisely measure out the unrolling of films at high speeds according to the trajectory set out by the wrapping bar.

In the UK, a local company with UK service engineers that are readily available are critical issues in terms of uninterrupted production, added Tucker.

Free of charge consultancy and advice from experienced UK packaging line engineers could also be vital, believes Tucker, along with the availability of spare parts, together with a lack of language barriers.

Tucker commented that buyers should also ensure that the system they propose to buy is really up to date and that the components are largely commercial and readily available, whilst there should be no secret 'black boxes' but if there are, they should be checked to be proven and trouble free.

Aetna believes that its Diamc range has found favour in a myriad of market sectors, but has proved a great favourite within the drinks industries, particularly for glass and PVC bottles, cans, glass and PVC jars and cartons of juice and milk, added Tucker.

Recent overseas installations for Dimac include Carlsberg, Bulgaria, Coca Cola Amatil (Indonesia), Italian Food Spa (Italy) La Vie De Luc water (South Africa) and Carlton and United Breweries (Australia).

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