GRAHAM LABELLING AND SLEEVING

H.J.Heinz Co. Ltd.
Keeping apace with evolving consumer lifestyles, food manufacturer H.J.Heinz Co. Ltd. has created many new and innovative products. The latest is Microwaveable Soup Cups available in 4 tasty varieties.

Client Brief

The cups are produced with a rib format to create an enhanced visual effect when caught in the light, designed to help improve product awareness on the supermarket shelves. In addition to this the ribs aid in handling the cup whilst drinking.

The 275ml size cups are insulated which allows them to be picked up straight from the microwave without burning your hands and are fitted with snap-on lids to prevent spilling.

Graham Engineering, were approached by Heinz to provide a sleeving system specifically for this new product line.

To meet the speed requirements for the line Graham decided on an RF200 machine which is capable of handling 100 products per minute for the cut length of sleeve required.

The automatic application, however, created other issues regarding final presentation which needed to be taken into consideration. The sleeve position was critical to the Heinz brand managers with the positional accuracy and repeatability needing to be maintained throughout the application process.

Project Build

The sleeves needed to be tucked under the base of the pot once shrunk. There was also an accuracy requirement for sleeve placement with a very tight tolerance for the gap between the lip of the pot and the top of the sleeve material. Due to the shape of the cup it was decided to sleeve them inverted and the sleeve cut length was increased to extend over the base. Special heat activated, adhesive tabs were applied to the inside of the sleeve to stop it rising during shrinking.

Grahams were concerned that with the product being sleeved in the inverted position, damage to the film sealed lid may have occurred and with this in mind Graham took the decision to use special non-friction conveying to minimize this risk during the application process.

This created another problem in that the cups would be the wrong way up for processing further along the packaging line. So in addition to the basic installation, Graham included an innovative pot turning device to ensure the products were rotated onto their bases to ensure smooth integration into the next machine on the customers line.

A site visit was set-up reviewing the integration of the Graham system into the existing line and to review all the key technical aspects of the project.

Following this, a plan was made outlining all the key milestones for the project.

As part of Graham’s commitment to their clients, a Project Manager was appointed, who assumed responsibility for the project, through to the final acceptance machine trials on site.

Project Results

Following acceptance tests at the Graham plant, the sleeving system was installed and commissioned on the Clients site.
Use of a Graham Steam Tunnel ensured an even, tight, fit of the material around the ribbed characteristics of the cup along with minimal distortion to both the sleeve graphics and text.

Client Satisfaction

Richard Reichinger, Packaging Development Manager at Heinz says, “We chose the Graham machine because it provided a cost effective solution for sleeve application, coupled with the positive experience we already had of using Graham’s machines at other locations. To date we have found the RF applicator to be reliable and user-friendly.”