F
Packaging and bagging lines
W
by Mark Wild, Sales Manager at Fawema, Germany
ith 97 years of history behind them, it would be fair to say that Fawema´s know-how and experience in the field of packaging and bagging is quite unique. But while having a long and rich heritage is of course important, ensuring a consolidated and bright future is even more important and it was with exactly this sentiment in mind that Fawema, located near Cologne in Germany, decided in recent years to dedicate their vast technical capability and resources to developing a new range of automatic packing machines, which is today radically revolutionizing the way in which flours and other powder and granulated products are packed into bags.
Servo-drive transmission
In much the same way in which the automobile industry has utilized servo-drive transmission to guarantee reliability and an easy driving experience into motor vehicles, Fawema has successfully introduced servo-drive technology into the new range of FA217 flour packing machines and the results have been truly incredible. Thanks to servo-drive, the new Fawema packing machinery offers the user a modern machine, which is extremely reliable, totally hygienic and delivers high capacity performance of up to 110 bags per minute. An intelligent energy recovery system ensures that no power is wasted and thanks to this incorporated recovery system, the complete machine benefits from substantial overall energy savings. The new range of machines do not require oil sumps, grease or lubrification and with increased dust aspiration ducting it all signifies a machine which is clean, perfectly hygienic and with no risk of contamination. All machine movements are precise and with no mechanical slipping or wear and tear, the results are optimal with vastly reduced costs on parts and service and improved reliability.
About the author
Mark Wild has 28 years´ experience in the packaging machine industry. Born and educated in the U.K. Mark has worked in both Italy and Germany and today travels principally in Africa, Middle East and Asia to develop Fawema´s business interests in these key regions. Fawema GmbH based near Cologne in Germany was founded in 1920. Today, after almost a century in business, the company is globally recognized as being a leader in the manufacture and supply of fully-automated flour packing lines in either paper bags or plastic bags. It was recently calculated that approximately 200 billion bags have been packed on Fawema machinery worldwide to date and the oldest machine still operating at a mill on a daily basis was installed in 1973!
Changing trends: Paper and plastic packaging materials
Kraft paper in the form of ready-made, block-bottom bags has long been the preferred packaging material when it comes to retail-size flour packs from 500 grams to 5kg. Used by mills in Europe, North America, Latin America, Africa, the Middle East and Australia, kraft paper bags lend themselves well to flour packaging for a number of reasons such as competitive cost, easy to source, allow for rapid internal flour settling, easy to store and transport in brick pack form and presents well to the consumer at point of sale. Recently however, a trend in the market towards utilizing plastic packaging material has become evident and Fawema has designed, built, delivered and installed a large number of machines during the last three years for packing flour and flour-based products into retail-size plastic bags. Plastic packaging materials come in two forms – printed reels or ready-made, block bottom bags and the characteristics, quality and thickness of the plastic vary depending on several factors such as the types of packs to be made i.e. pillow packs or stand-up brick packs, weight of the pack to be made and whether or not secondary or tertiary packaging will be utilised. 62 | February 2017 - Milling and Grain
Traditional paper bags shrink wrapped for easy storage & transportation