Product category:
General packaging materials, equipment and services
News Release from: PFM Packing Machinery | Subject: flow wrapping
Edited by the Manufacturingtalk Editorial
Team on 26 September 2006
PFM'S hurricane is McGhees bread winner
A leading Scottish bakery's new purpose-built factory is home to the latest flowrapping technology that is accelerating production during a massive growth phase.
Supplied by PFM Packaging Machinery, the flowrappers are ensuring that McGhee's Bakery in Glasgow can capitalise on a major expansion in its core central Scotland wholesale market, which includes the food service sector, independent retailers, cash and carries, local authorities and education establishments McGhee's co-owner, Ian McGhee, explained: "Our new bakery is a huge development with the most up to date bakery plant and processes"
This article was originally published on Manufacturingtalk on 11 Apr 2007 at 8.00am (UK)
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"Therefore it was vital that our packaging should be upgraded to reflect the image of the company that we are now portraying." The company bought two identical PFM high-speed Hurricane servo-controlled horizontal flowrappers in the last 10 months to add to the three it had already been successfully running.
The Hurricane, PFM's most versatile machine, achieves a maximum speed of 100 mechanical cycles per minute or, in McGhee's case, 60 packs per minute.
Crucially for McGhee's the Hurricane allows for a rapid product change-over time of just three minutes, assisted by 24 pre-programmed set-ups.
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Such adaptability also means the machines can be rapidly changed from wrapping a six-pack of breadrolls to a pack of potato scones.
The Hurricane produces high quality packs that are sealed lengthwise and crosswise on three sides from a roll of heat-sealable packaging film, with or without support trays.
It also provides advantages such as no product no bag and misplaced product detection eliminating film wastage and product damage.
Its flexibility means it can also comfortably handle a wide range of heat sealable materials - including laminated, polypropylene, - a different version of the machine can also handle polyethylene - heat-shrinkable and trimmable products.
This is also important to McGhee's as the company will soon be graduating to using pre-printed films to further enhance the quality of its packaging appearance.
And whilst the PFM Hurricane machines are ensuring that high volumes of daily throughput are consistently attained, Ian McGhee was eager to emphasise another vital feature of the equipment.
"Our markets' expectations for fresh bakery products mean that we have to maintain the absolute maximum of uninterrupted production".
"The PFM machines are superb for their reliability and robustness and because of that we had no hesitation in specifying the Hurricanes for our new factory".
"We have been running PFM machines for 20 years now and they are still here, performing very well, so it is fair to say that PFM's equipment is the mainstay of our operation," he said.
McGhee's has built its reputation on supplying a wide range of quality traditional craft bakery and confectionery items, as well as frozen products, from rolls and bread, continental bread, tea bread, savoury and fruit products, to slab cake, doughnuts, cream products and cakes.
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