ILAPAK line makes light work of packing potatoes

Looking for a supplier of complete packaging lines should talk to ILAPAK, a world-leading manufacturer of flexible packaging equipment for fresh produce industries. In response to market demand, ILAPAK has enlarged its offering beyond its core flow wrapping and bagging capabilities to provide turn-key solutions that span feeding through to final packaging. At Fruit Logistica, ILAPAK unveiled a new system that underpins this approach: a linear weigher for root vegetables.

A potato weighing and bagging line at Fruit Logistica demonstrated ILAPAK’s new capabilities in linear weighing and ability to supply complete lines.

The line, which combines a 10-head linear weigher with a Vegatronic 1000 intermittent vertical bagger, will be shown packing potatoes into an innovative gusseted bag format.

The weigher can handle fruit and veg items such as potatoes, apples, citrus fruit, onions and carrots, and incorporates several features that allow greater flexibility on product shapes and dimensions than rival vibratory systems, which tend to be dedicated to a particular product. Quick change vibratory channels and weighing buckets design allow tool-less changeovers between different types and size of products. For delicate products, special features such as minimised drops and adapted collector bins ensure gentle handling.

The weigher has been engineered for ease of cleaning and robustness - two key criteria when handling fresh fruit and veg. It has an open, stainless steel, self-draining frame, quick change distribution plates and 45° sloping surfaces that prevent dirt and debris from collecting, and uses high speed stainless steel load cells.

The weighing buckets are organised in a staggered arrangement, resulting in a footprint that is unusually small for a machine handling such a large product.