Air displacement web guide on hf/f/s machine improves medical kit packaging

"It happened almost daily," says Vance Cook, Cardinal Health's maintenance and facilities manager. "The lower web would run out of the gripper chains, and it would take a dozen or more cycles to get it back in the chains." Cook attributes the problem to a combination of uneven film rolls, the machine's design, and the company's packaging process. "We have long runs of plastic between rollers that tend to make it easy to ride to one side or the other," he explains.

Cook approached the form/fill/seal equipment's manufacturer first for assistance. "They didn't have a solution as far as adjustments we could make to the machine," he says, "but they knew a couple of companies that make web guides."

Cook chose Coast Controls' model RDG5 all-air displacement web guide and installed it after the machine's registration roller and before the transport chains to ensure proper seal alignment of the film to the plastic trays. He was pleased with the guide's simplicity: "Installation was easy-no electronic wiring or controls were needed," he says. "I just added our plant air, and we were in operation."

The guide has a roller with a sensor that senses when the film starts to shift to one side or the other, explains Cook. "The roller is on a swivel that compensates for the shift in film to keep it aligned between two points," he says.

The web guide has reduced the problem of displaced film by about 98%, estimates Cook. "Benefits have been less scrap and less rework," he says. Cardinal now produces between 10,000 and 12,000 packages daily and has eliminated the need for manual supervision and film adjustment. [HCP]

--By Kassandra Kania, Contributing Editor