GEA Premieres New PowerPak PLUS
GEA has presented its new thermoforming packaging technology, the GEA PowerPak PLUS during the GEA Packaging Days customer event at their production site in Wallau, Germany. The machinery which can be used for bread, biscuits, baguettes, ciabatta, croissants and pita, but also for meat, will be showcased on a larger scale at IFFA trade fair in Frankfurt, May 4-9.
“Before developing the machine further, we undertook a customer survey. By doing so, we were able to incorporate our customers’ wishes to further improve process reliability and packaging quality as well as machine running times of our already proven thermoforming machines in the PowerPak product range,” explains Volker Sassmannshausen, product manager thermoforming.
Based on their feedback, GEA chose to focus on film unwinding and feeding, hygiene and overall handling. Consequently, the sealing station and bottom film infeed of the PowerPak PLUS thermoformer were completely redesigned to facilitate process transparency and traceability – contributing to the greater sustainability of packaging processes in the food industry.
The unwinding systems for both the top and bottom films have been optimized and are now motor-driven and synchronized with the machine’s advancing cycle. In combination with the innovative web tension system, they facilitate a controlled unwinding and a simplified and secure film path. Controlled unwinding in the bottom film infeed module prevents the bottom film from curling. Typical tolerances of the film reels like mis-alignment or curvature can be automatically adjusted. As a result of the innovations in film unwinding and film run, the sealing station design has also been updated. The entire top film unwinding system is located in the area of the sealing station and easily accessible. In addition, the sealing station structure has also been fundamentally improved and is now protected by vertically adjustable and transparent safety doors, which can be lowered quickly and easily when required, eliminating the need for loose, protective hoods.
Other significant innovations in the sealing station include the motor-driven evacuation and gasification valves in combination with pressure sensors. They enable individual, reproducible as well as product – and packaging – dependent processes. And, for example, under-, upper- and product vacuum are able to be controlled and monitored, ensuring the necessary process transparency.
With GEA PerformancePlus, modular service and maintenance packages are available which increases equipment availability and produces transparency regarding the actual condition of the equipment.