MACHINERY
A new first in secondary packaging The latest technology developed by systems supplier KHS, means that cans of food as well as beverages can both be successfully wrapped in paper. This offers a perfect alternative to film or wrap-around cardboard and offers many other advantages. Benefiting from this new, eco-friendly technology is KHS’s well-known Innopack Kisters tray system. Other key benefits apart from being eco-friendly and energy saving, include lower raw material costs, with only minor adjustments required for conversion to the new set-up. Regarding its stability, the results are the same if not better than those compared to cardboard or film-based wrappers. However, at KHS the idea of using paper as a secondary packaging material is not a new one. The company first experimented with this concept around 20 years ago. Karl Heinz Klumpe, packaging product manager at KHS told SPN, “Back then, this technology didn’t catch on, as paper was a cost-intensive raw material and wrapping containers in film yielded better results regarding stability. The beverage industry thus opted for different systems and solutions to those available today. Currently our customers want green alternatives to the usual packaging systems such as film and these should be as eco-friendly as possible.” In order to achieve this, new paper wrapping material has now been developed together with an international beverage producer. This type of pack can replace shrink film or wrap-around carton packaging for transportation or sale, on packs of 12 or 24 cans in the high-capacity range of up to 90,000 cans per hour.
Modular machines require minimal adjustments In order to wrap cans in paper instead of film just a few adjustments are needed to the Innopack Kisters tray packer. “KHS is increasingly supplying modular systems and solutions that enable and ease the appropriate conversions to our machines. In this case, we’ve simply reengineered the process module for folding and wrapping,” Klumpe explains.
74 SUSTAINABLE PACKAGING NEWS
Karl-Heinz Klumpe
packaging product manager at KHS