Case Study - Packaging - Modular Bagging System0 pages

CASE STUDY
Product category: Electric Actuators
Industry: Packaging

Problem:
Inconsistent bag dimensions that slowed the
production process

Solution:
Tolomatic rodless screw actuators precisely
position incoming bags regardless of
dimension

Results:
Increased repeatability and productivity

Electric screw actuators from Tolomatic improve accuracy
and productivity of Thiele modular bagging system

The bagging system now
automatically compensates
for variations in bag
dimensions and eliminates
manual setup when
changing bag sizes.

MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA, USA—
Thiele Technologies, a leader in
packaging technology and equipment,
recently faced the problem of how
to compensate for inconsistent bag
dimensions on its popular modular bag
filling and sealing system. Thiele serves
customers in the diverse bulk-materials
processing industries, and the bagging
system is designed to measure, fill and
seal bags containing anything from pet
food to salt, sugar, dirt, seed, fertilizer
or animal feed. Many of Thiele’s
customers had switched to lowcost bags with irregular dimensions.
These irregularly sized bags were
slowing the production process, which
requires high-speed accuracy to meet
manufacturing goals.
Since repeatability is critical to the
filling and sealing operation, Thiele
engineers sought a solution that
would increase accuracy, flexibility

www.tolomatic.com

and productivity for packagers. They
found their solution in four custom
electric screw linear actuators from
Tolomatic, Hamel, Minn., that precisely
position incoming empty bags. The
bagging system now automatically
compensates for variations in bag
dimensions and eliminates manual
setup when changing bag sizes.
The original version of the bagging
system was automated except for
the tray that positioned the empty
bags prior to them being picked up
and inserted into the filling line. When
using high-quality bags with consistent
dimensions, the trays required only
a simple manual adjustment at
the start of a run. However, when
customers began switching to low-cost
bags, some would not be positioned
accurately, resulting in improper filling
and sealing.