Newly developed thermo-packaging machine aims to save cleanroom space

[freemexy]

Riverside Medical Packaging have developed a Shawpak thermo-packaging machine which allows manufacturers to replace a 20m long packing line with a single unit under 2m in length.
Riverside Medical Packaging, who are based in Derby, East Midlands, United Kingdom have been working within the contract manufacturing and machine development sectors of the healthcare industry for over 40 years. The organisation develops solutions for producing, packaging and sterilising single use medical devices.

David Shaw, CEO at Riverside Medical Packaging said: “The Shawpak helps customers reduce the cost of maintaining a cleanroom production environment and to maximise their return on investment.”multi lane packaging machine

Riverside Medical Packaging claim that the Shawpak’s compact size and flexible layout enables it to be configured in many ways to suit customers’ individual requirements.

The smallest Shawpak machines are 1.5m long and occupy less than 2m2 of floorspace. The company state that six times more thermo-packaging machines can fit into the same cleanroom space as previously occupied.

Ivor Rowe, technical manager, Riverside Medical Packaging comments: “A comparable form fill sealing (FFS) machine can be anywhere from 7m to 20m in length depending on the packaging process requirements, occupying a working space of up to 40m2. As a result, a given cleanroom space can fit six times more packing machines with a Shawpak design, increasing both productivity and throughput.”

Riverside Medical Packaging say that the Shawpak models are compact, thermoforming sealing machines that can be loaded manually, or by an integrated robot for increased speed. The organisation claims that the key innovation with these machines is the forming, packing and sealing process, which is now carried out on a drum, rather than a linear conveyor system. Mitsubishi Electric servo control synchronises the rotary motion of the drum and the precision indexing of the sealing film. Manipulation of the product and package is conducted using suction. The product to be packed is loaded on top of the drum and the finished packet is ejected into a discharge conveyor underneath. The webs of packaging material (such as polyethylene terephthalate or polyethylene sheets) plus the forming, sealing and cutting stations are positioned around the drum.