Case Study
Fractional packaging in a fraction of the space and time
The Challenge
Single-serve, portable packaging is increasingly popular today. This type of convenience packaging is comprised primarily of fractional (frac) packs, which are small pillow bags. At Viking Masek, we have customers in many industries that make frac packs, top among them being the coffee market. We repeatedly heard from these customers that they wanted to speed up their packaging time beyond the traditional speed of 70 – 110 bags per minute, but had limited floor space. With multiple requests for a solution, we knew that an innovative and unique approach was needed.
Our Approach
We wanted the Viking Masek solution to eliminate the problems caused by speeding up traditional frac pack machines. Customers reported that when trying to speed up their current machine, they would experience problems including bunched up film caused by the intermittent motion of their current machine, low-quality seals due to less contact time with the sealing jaws, and product in end seals causing decreased seal integrity.
We committed to developing a solution that solved these problems. We also determined that we wanted the footprint of our machine to be as small as possible. Finally, we wanted to provide the level of quality Viking Masek builds into all our packaging equipment.
The Viking Masek Solution
The end result is a dual-jaw continuous motion velocity machine. The VFFS Velocity can run at 150 - 180 bags per minute, over twice as fast as a traditional intermittent motion machine. The machine’s dual jaw continuous motion provides more contact time with the packaging film, resulting in a higher quality seal with no product infiltration. Continuous motion causes less wear and tear on the machine, reducing downtime and repair costs.
The technology is easy for an operator to learn and use. And the machine’s small footprint makes it ideal for a variety of industries, including coffee. The VFFS Velocity provides the best of all worlds – fractional packaging in a fraction the space and a fraction of the time. The only thing that increases is our customers’ output, which is exactly what they want.
VFFS Velocity - twice as fast as traditional intermittent equipment