Automated cord feeding is a complex form of individualized packaging in which additional process steps are integrated into the overall process. The basis is the vertical filling (VFFS) of product mass into a sealed and continuously clipped flat film. Additional applications are integrated into the actual packaging process and automated. Here are some examples of applications:

1. Food area:

1.1 An additional loop in the clip to hang a product for subsequent smoking in the smoking chamber
1.2 Welding a subsequent tear tab onto the flat film before the actual packaging process. This makes it easier for the end user, e.g. consumers of pasteurized meat sausages, to open the individual packaging

2. Chemical area:

2.1 Automatic feeding of a fuse for an explosives unit used in civilian mining. This results in a sequence of several products that are automatically linked together and enable process-efficient handling by the end customer

Thanks to the integration of the additional process steps, significant personnel costs can be avoided in the subsequent production process. The range of diverse application possibilities is as broad and customizable as there are different products. What they have in common, however, is that they are efficiently embedded in the overall process and therefore offer significant cost-saving potential despite their additional function.

Which upstream or downstream process steps would you like to integrate automatically into the packaging process? Write to us and we will clarify with you what is possible at Vermee.

In addition to special requirements in process control, Vermee has also built up expertise in solutions for complex safety requirements for packaging technology over more than 40 years. This also includes project planning, peripheral equipment such as mixers, extruders, pumps, dosing systems, etc. We also have special expertise in control cabinet construction, particularly in the area of explosion protection classes, e.g. Sial2 and the handling of hazardous substances. Products that change thermally, chemically or physically in the course of a packaging process also require customized solutions. Be it changing viscosities due to different filling temperatures of up to 200°C of hot melt, reactive adhesives or bitumen, monomer mixtures, civil explosives with special explosion protection classes, thixotropic masses, and much more.

The specific application example of automatic cord feeding in civil mining illustrates this spectrum. On the one hand, the precise cord feed must be controlled mechanically. Due to the classification of the hazardous material and the high safety requirements, the actual packaging process with additional cord must be equipped with relevant safety sensors for temperature, speed and pressure. In addition, the program run must be provided with defined parameters (country-specific and company-internal) as well as built-in emergency stop solutions.

There are also examples of applications in the adhesives industry where customized solutions go beyond the standard. For example, a new product was developed in the innovation department of an internationally active group, which was intended to make massive cost savings thanks to the integrated process run. The monomer solution was automatically packaged in a meltable film, tested for leaks and transformed into a polymer in a continuous polymerization process with simultaneous product cooling. In this case too, the consideration of explosion protection zones due to possible escaping gas had to be taken into account both mechanically and in the control cabinet and in the programming.

Process integration of hazardous substances or products with explosion protection requirements is much more than just packaging. Vermee’s tailor-made solutions offer the advantage that the necessary safety requirements can be reliably met and thus efficient and safe processes can be implemented.

Which product with explosion protection requirements would you like to fill and package in an optimized way? Please contact us for an initial assessment of Vermee packaging technology.