The cream of packaging for Belgian dairy
August 1st 2008 The Friesland Group's most
important dairy facility is in
Lumen, Belgium. The main
items produced there are
whipped cream and milk
drinks flavoured with
chocolate and cream. With
an area of 33,000m2 and a
10,000-pallet warehouse,
the plant produces 500
different product types and
has a daily stock of more
than 1300 pallets.
The need to produce
different types of packaging
on the same line led Friesland
to approach Dimac, part of
Aetna. Initially three St@r
T45 tray packers were
developed capable of
carrying out 18 different
formats and able to pack up
to 45 packs a minute. With
the machine's flexibility,
Friesland was able to
develop additional formats.
A patented CAD system
allows up to 64 formats for
each machine, directly from
the operator control panel,
without the need for
programming via PLC.
Friesland can complete a
changeover in less than 10
minutes and resume
operations at maximum
production speed.
Private labels for each line
mean format changes occur
as often as every 3-4 hours More articles from AETNA GROUP UK: | 
