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Wrapper
increases efficiency at Purdy's
Canadian chocolatier saves
dollars and time with new machine...
CANDY
INDUSTRY June 1998
Recently, Purdy's
Chocolates of Vancouver, British Columbia, was faced with a problem - its
packaging line could not keep up with customer demand and production requirements.
Tom Cinnamon, Purdy's vice president,
wanted a faster, more efficient and versatile wrapping machine than the
unit that had been in use. "And we also wanted one that would enhance
the eye appeal of our product," he says.
Cinnamon knows his business. He's been
with Purdy's since his apprenticeship 24 years ago, and is now responsible
for everything from hiring and purchasing to consulting on the formulation
and development of new chocolate products in the firm's 57,000-square-foot
facility.
 He determined that Purdy's required a new
high-speed wrapping machine to meet specific packaging criteria.
Gary Mitchell, Purdy's production
supervisor, recommended a Formost packaging machine he had good experience
with at another company.
Based on his recommendation and the
evaluation of several competitive wrappers, Cinnamon, Bill McGarrell, plant
manager, and Keith Ridge, maintenance supervisor, selected a Fuji-Formost
FW-3400 Alpha III form-fill-seal wrapper from Formost Packaging Machines
in Woodinville, Washington.
Formost designs
and manufactures packaging machines and custom systems for a variety of
products.
"We installed the wrapper in June
1997. Formost helped us with the start-up, and it's been operating without
a problem ever since," reports Ridge.
Before Purdy's took delivery, Formost
re-evaluated its film wrapping needs, explains McGarrell.
"Formost ran all our products
through the wrapping machine and resized the wrap on our behalf,"
says McGarrell.
 "We gave those dimensions to our suppliers, who put
that information to use in saving us wrap and giving us better looking
packages," he says.
"In the past, for example, the
overlap on the back was excessive. Now, the tighter package with less film
makes a more attractive piece," McGarrell continues.
"Currently, we're running Mobil OPP
(polypropylene) .075-inch, but we're using about 20 percent less," he
says. "Besides saving film with the wrapper, we knew the machine had
a computer and was capable of high speeds, and that we needed training to
better utilize these features.
Money savings
Purdy's creates over 100 varieties of
sweets. The firm blends premium chocolate imported from Belgium and the
United States, ginger from Australia, cashews from India, and dairy
products delivered fresh daily from local suppliers.
The factory currently employs up to 90
people, including a full- and part-time permanent staff that joins the
team during Purdy's peak production seasons at Christmas, Easter,
Valentine's Day and Halloween.
 During
production, the Fuji-Formost wrapper is used to wrap a variety of products
in various shapes and sizes ranging from individual moulded chocolate bars
to 2¼-inch wide by 4¾-inch long trays containing three chocolate truffle
hedgehogs.
The
hedgehogs, moulded on an APV Baker shell moulding plant, are removed from
the moulds and placed in trays on the wrapper's infeed.
As
each tray enters the machine's film forming box, printed film is wrapped
around the product, sealed and moved onto the outfeed conveyor through a
metal detector to a rotating table for hand placement in display boxes. According
to Mitchell, the old wrapping machine offered few options, took too long
to set up and wasted too much packaging film.
"It was costing us a lot
of money in wasted film. If no product was on the infeed, the machine
still made a package, which cost us two to three cents each in wasted
film." Mitchell says.
"Now, if no product is present, no
package is made. That's an incredible money-saving feature," he
continues. "And if a product is out of position at the sealers, the
film remains uncut until a product is in position," he says.
McGarrell is equally pleased with the
wrapper and anticipates the machine will pay itself off in about three
years.
"With the old machine," he
says, "when we ordered wrap, we ordered an additional 10 to 20
percent buffer for wastage, based on two to three cents lost per imprint
or bar."
"We're also saving five to 15
minutes on changeover time. Usually, we're running 80 to 100 bars per
minute compared to 40 to 50 with the old machine. There's no question
we're saving labor, too" adds McGarrell.
In operation, Mitchell
explains that "we put the film on the Fuji-Formost's dual,
self-centering film spindles, and the machine is virtually ready to
go."
"Then we just punch in
marshmallow bars, for example, on the touch-panel control and the wrapper
sets the cutoff length, print registration, date code
location, infeed
timing, crimper timing and sealing temperatures," says Mitchell.
The machine has enough
memory to store information on 30 different product settings, though Purdy's
currently uses only 20. The firm also has two adjustable formers
to handle the full range of products and reduce changeover time.
Mitchell states
that the machine is capable of wrapping speeds up to 250 products per
minute, "but we would need robotics to feed it. When we're wrapping
chocolate bars, for example, we wrap closer to 100 per minute."
Safety reliability
Employee safety is a major concern at
Purdy's. According to Ridge, "It's almost impossible to get into the
Fuji-Formost wrapper while it's running. Safety switches on the unit have
assured us of no accidents or even near-accidents."
"I also like the machine's built-in
maintenance and troubleshooting program," says Ridge. "If a
problem develops, it saves us a lot of time by graphically indicating what
the problem is and where it is located."
"Another time and labor saver is the
AC servomotor drive system, which requires no lubrication. The wrapper is so reliable and easy to operate, in fact, that we don't even have a
back-up," reports Ridge.
When it's time to change over
and produce coated chocolate bars, Purdy's wheels the Fuji-Formost wrapper
around until it is in line with its Greer enrober outfeed. The coated
chocolate bars then feed directly into the wrapper at temperatures around
68°F.
During production of moulded
chocolate bars, the wrapper is wheeled in line with the outfeed of the
firm's APV Baker shell moulding plant, saving product transfer time and
labor.
"Most of our production
is shipped out daily to our retail stores on our own company trucks,"
he says. "Customers are assured of getting high-quality chocolates
made from the freshest ingredients."
END
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