Aseptic form-fill-seal machine chosen for butter

Benco Pack SpA of Italy has been chosen by Agral, a Belgium butter manufacturing company, to supply an aseptic form-fill-seal machine for its range of 8 to 10 g rectangle cup mini-portion butter products.

Agral specialises in the production of all types of butter and packaging of butter for private labels, manufacturing in excess of 10,000 tonnes per annum. The company opened a new production facility in 2010 to optimise its product flow and increase production to meet its current demand.

Benco Pack custom designed a solution for the unique requirements of Agral which culminated in a fully aseptic packaging line that is fully automated and offers increased efficiency and ease of operation and reduced packaging costs.

The horizontal aseptic machine uses a three-step packaging and filling process. Containers are thermoformed starting from a roll of multilayer barrier plastic film (PS/EVO/PE or similar), filled with the butter product, closed by a thermo-sealed peelable lid and then cut to the desired configuration. The machine produces 72,000 cups of butter per hour.

A special cutting tool configuration was included to reduce the amount of scrap produced. The machine forms 10 x 4 cups/cycle, which reduces the packaging material scrap to less than 8%, providing a significant cost saving.

The machine is pre-sterilised and maintained in sterile conditions via the use of UV lamps and a Central Air Sterile (CAS) Unit to extend the shelf life of the butter products.

Benco Pack has form-fill-seal systems for mini-portions, single and thermoformed cups, in hygienic, ultra-clean and aseptic versions.