A fully automated case erecting and sealing line installed by Endoline Automation, which can form and seal up to 850 twin walled boxes of potatoes per hour, has enabled Bennett Potatoes to increase throughput by 35% per hour on a line which achieves an annual output of 35,000 tonnes of potatoes.
The Lincolnshire-based firm export their potato crop and supply UK wholesalers and food services with a wide variety of potatoes, including Maris Piper and Saxon, which are packed into bags or sacks and delivered to customers throughout the country. However, their baker sized potatoes, which are predominantly supplied to various foodservices, wholesale and export customers are boxed into cartons. “The filled cartons each weigh 15 kilos so we required durable boxes to sustain this weight. However manually forming, filling and sealing these boxes was a laborious and time consuming task,” said owner Ian Bennett.
To endure the weight of the filled boxes Bennett’s required twin walled boxes which can be difficult to form on an automatic case erecting system as there is a high risk of failure due to the heavy board that needs to be opened and folded. Endoline installed their 221 case erector which has an integrated dual opposing vacuum technology which uses two vacuum systems for consistent opening of the case.
The machine also includes pneumatic rockets which open the outer case flaps before the inner case flaps. Endoline’s Area Sales Manager, Mark Budd, said, “The dual opposing vacuum technology overcomes problems relating to forming heavy-duty boxes as it clamps to each side of the case during the forming process applying the same amount of pressure to simultaneously open it from both sides.”
