NEW FLOW WRAPPER BALANCES BUDGET AND BUILD DEMANDS

ILAPAK launched its original Carrera 1000 in 2014, and the flow wrapper has since earned a reputation as a reliable workhorse for the full gamut of food industry applications, from bakery, biscuits, snacks and confectionery to IQF, fresh produce and ice cream. ILAPAK has an installed base of over 400 of these trusty flow wrappers in food production and packaging plants worldwide.

“We know that food manufacturers love the versatility and reliability of the Carrera 1000, but we also know, from conversations with our customers, that production budgets are continually being squeezed. This cost pressure isn’t going to disappear, so we have removed some of the features that are superfluous to requirement for most medium sized operations, and identified ways of stripping out cost whilst enhancing the build quality and performance the industry has come to expect from this market-leading flow wrapping platform,” says Marco Pocaterra, Carrera 1500 Development Team Manager at ILAPAK.

This latest addition to the Carrera portfolio incorporates incremental innovations that have enabled ILAPAK to stretch the performance: price ratio of the system. A radical re-engineering of the machine frame has produced the first ILAPAK flow wrapper with a tubular frame for added robustness, whilst on the sealing system, heavy duty shafts and surrounding bearings allow for greater and more consistent seal-jaw pressure. This improved jaw profile results in superior seal appearance and integrity.

As well as removing some less popular features, ILAPAK has added several new features. For example, on the new generation Carrera 1500 , rapid film reel change is facilitated via a pneumatic locking device on the shaft, whereas on the original machine, the reel had to be manually fixed onto the shaft.

The Carrera 1500 slots neatly into ILAPAK’s range between the entry-level Smart and the newly launched dedicated bakery industry Carrera 5000, with the high-spec, high-speed Carrera 6000 ILAPAK’s top performing flow wrapper.

In contrast with the manually fed Carrera Smart, the Carrera 1500 can either be configured with manual or automatic feeding, giving users the option to integrate the flow wrapper within a fully automated continuous workflow. Optional extras include a dual film reel holder and automatic film reel splicing – features that contribute to overall line efficiency. The Carrera 1000 can handle a wide range of film materials and thicknesses thanks to its superior transversal sealing head.