Blister Packaging

Friction generated during the unwinding of the roll of thick plastic film creates static. These static charges attract contamination from the surrounding area onto the film. During the heating and forming of the film to produce the blisters, the contamination bonds to the plastic film, creating permanent inclusions and potential scrap.

The warm plastic generates even more static charges as it cools. This will result in further contamination or filling issues. These issues can include contamination from operators such as hair or skin, or repelling of the product, for example medical tablets or powders, during the filling of the blister.

Rolls of material which are purchased and found to be already contaminated will need to be cleaned. A web cleaner, such as a Meech Non-Contact CyClean, mounted prior to thermoforming is ideal for removing and capturing contamination safely. An ionising air curtain such as a 957 or 959IPS will remove the contamination but will not capture it. However, static control products can be the solution where budget is limited or quality is not imperative.

Controlling static charges during product packing will allow the product and clean blister packaging material to come together, preventing product misbehaviour and inclusion of contamination. This can be done using a long range ionising bar such as a Meech 960IPS or 971IPS.

Bottle Labelling

Bottle labelling. The buildup of static charge on the label web or on the plastic bottles will result in poor label feeding or incorrect lable placement. These problems can result in the mislabelling of bottles, slower production speeds and a higher defect rate.

Meech Ionising equipment can help to overcome these problems. View our Hyperion range of ionising bars HERE to find out more. 

IML Decoration Of Plastic Moulds Using Static Pinning

During in-mould labelling processes, the label must be placed and held in an accurate position inside the mould tool. This can be complicated and unreliable using tabs or recesses. Movement of the label will lead to the product being rejected. Pinning the label in-situ using static electricity, avoids complicated design issues and provides an excellent temporary bond to fix the label in place during the moulding process. The label is picked up by the robot arm and then it is either passed over a static charging bar and placed into the tool, or is moved into the tool and ‘pinned’ directly on to the surface of the tool. Both these processes can also be manual. Once the label is stuck to the tool surface the robot arm retracts, the mould closes and plastic is injected to form a plastic container complete with label.

Meech IML Hydra Pinning Systems and Pinning Heads are ideal to support on this application.

Thermoforming

Thermoforming. Sheet materials need to be free of contamination and plastic swarf prior to entry to the thermoforming machine. Failure to manage material cleanliness will result in inclusions embedded in the finished product. Large sheets can be cleaned using a Meech JetStream Ionising Air Knife System, while smaller sheets could use a Meech 959IPS air curtain or Meech 251 ionising gun. Charges generated during thermoforming may result in further contamination or operator shocks during handling.

Package Printing

Package printing. Dirty webs can cause poor print quality. Within the consumer packaging poor print quality will cause high reject rates, excessive downtime, therefore will increase manufacturing costs. Whichever the material in hand

Meech can offer the suitable solution with a big range of contact and non-contact web cleaners, which you can view online HERE.

Form, Fill and Seal Operations

Form, Fill and Seal operations. For example in powder filling processes, static charges are generated on the powder as it is delivered into the filling head, which causes the powder to be attracted to the rim of the bottle and the dust is repelled back onto the auger spout.  

Meech Ionising nozzle range can support resolving these challenges. View our range of AC and DC Ionising equipment online HERE for more information.