Production up 35% at Baxter’s potato plant packing line 07 February 2011

Baxters High Brow Produce says it has increased throughput by 38%, reduced production staff and improved potato packing since installing a new automated bagging line.

The Merseyside-based chip shop potato grower, says its new bagging ling places, weighs, forms, stitches and palletises up to 4,000 tonnes of potatoes into 25kg sacks every season.

The plant selected Pacepacker for the automation project, and sales manager Ian Merchant explains that the clever bit is handling products with such irregular shapes and sizes.

"There is a tendency for the sack to tip backwards when released on to a moving stitcher conveyor and this, coupled with the potential collapse of the sack mouth, can result in untidy or, worse still, unstitched sacks," he says.

"The TBC overcomes these problems by first stretching the sack mouth while still on the filling clamp then, by gripping the sack top prior to its release onto a short static conveyor," he reports.

"Both the sack top and base are indexed clear of the filling clamp at high speed and in synchronisation, allowing for rapid placement of the next bag. The top grip arms then transfer the filled sack to a pair of powered belts that, in turn, feed the sewing head – thus ensuring neat, parallel stitching.

After stitching, a motorised kicker lays the horizontally, after which each undulates over a squared roller conveyor, so evenly dispersing the potatoes to create a flat and level bag ready for palletising.

Completing Baxter's packing line is a Pacepacker pre-owned Blu-Robot. "Manufacturers understand the benefits a palletising robot can provide in terms of fast and accurate stacking," says Merchant.

"But new systems are not always economically viable for low production or seasonal companies. These high quality robotic arms primarily originate from the automotive industry and are typically around 35% of the way through their expected 100,000 operational hour lifespan," says Merchant.

Brian Tinham

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