The latest technology integrates vertical bagging with a patented air extraction process to automate vacuum bagging for food products and thus improving labour productivity
The Tight-Chicken solution helps meet sustainability goals by reducing amount of plastic used in the packaging process. (Credit: Business Wire/ Harpak-ULMA)
US-based packaging solutions provider Harpak-ULMA has introduced ULMA’s Tight-Bag machines for poultry products in the North American market.
The company has combined vertical bagging with a patented air extraction process to design the Tight-Bag machine. Both processes automate vacuum bagging for many food products.
The Tight-Bag machine can generate up to 15% more bags per case for specific products with its HMI-adjustable air volume.
Harpak-ULMA said that the machine can make leakproof bags without perforations.
The Tight-Bag solution for poultry goods, marketed as Tight-Chicken, combines automated product loading and vertical bagging to remove labour-intensive manual processes and hygienic concerns.
According to the packaging firm, these two concerns are frequently involved in packaging fresh poultry.
Harpak-ULMA Flow wrap manager Hugh Crouch said: “This is a night and day innovation for Producers. Until now, packaging fresh poultry required two separate systems – one to open the premade bag to insert the product and one to extract air and seal the bag.
“Compared to Tight-Chicken, that’s more costly, less efficient, and requires more physical plant space – both for installation and associated maintenance.”
Using specialised jaws and venturi air evacuation, the Tight-Bag involves wrapping film around the vertical tube that supplies the product before closing each bag to the required level of air.
The machine can process a range of packaging films like the breathable material required for some applications involving fresh, crust-chilled fowl.
Each bag suits the product like a second skin by Tight-Chicken, preventing the possibility of leaks and guaranteeing that the product complies with all hygiene laws when it is delivered to retailers, the packaging firm claimed.
Harpak-ULMA said that the machine’s design also decreases the processing line’s size while enhancing production yield by up to 35 leakproof bags per minute.
The products are loaded using a semi-manual or completely automated overhead chain conveyance system, which includes quality control measures like weight checks.
After being bagged, parcels move on to end-of-line packing processes after passing through a hot water shrink tunnel, the US-based firm concluded.