SHORTBREAD, oatcake and biscuit specialist Paterson-Arran is increasing output and has installed its first PFM high-speed flow-wrapper, a Falcon HS equipped with a long dwell sealing head.
The machine is employed on a variety of pack sizes at the company’s Royal Burgh Bakery in Livingston, handling biscuits, shortbread and cookies in collations of one, two and three as well as oatcakes in eight: a total of 13 different pack sizes. Speed is up to 180 packs a minute.
Graeme MacFarlane, operations director at Paterson-Arran, explains that the long-dwell sealing head, which moves with the film, extending the time available for a seal to be made, was a major influence in the purchase of the machine.
“It gives us additional pack integrity at high speed and also requires less maintenance than other systems,” he says.
To help reduce changeover times, the PFM Falcon also features a motorised folding box that is pre-programmable, with data held in store for press-button recall and automatic adjustment to a new pack width.
