Thermoformer Functional Packaging

The success of Japan's pesticide manufacturer Kincho has proven that even a health ball has the potential to become a popular household item. The success of the company's "Gon Gon α" brand of health balls was attributed to a clever advertising campaign and attractive, highly functional packaging produced using Multivac's thermoforming machines.

Hygienic ball placed in a shell tray
The “Gon Gon” brand hygiene ball produced by the large chemical company Kincho has existed on the Japanese market for many years. The name sounds good in Japanese, and Kincho makes it very popular. “Gon Gonα is a well-known product in Japan,” confirmed Tetsushi Hata, director of Tokyo Foods Machinery, a subsidiary of Japan's Multivac Corporation. “A clever TV advertising campaign has made it a household product. Gon Gon’s The degree of acceptance and level of sales is very high for a sanitation ball.” Also, “Gon Gon α stands for high quality home products.”

The packaging of this insecticide is very unusual and delicate: it is a small, nearly square PET tray with a two-layered upper mesh cover. The bottom of this tray is a shell shape with an embossed “Gon Gon α” logo. In the middle there is a circular groove formed by an upwardly protruding circular ridge to hold the hygienic ball.

This package is not only very delicate in appearance, but also has a very special function, and its special function lies in the two-story network. The printed top layer may cover the product sealingly, but the second transparent PE underneath can be easily torn off so that the top layer remains on the package, allowing the hygienic ball to remain in place and preventing hygiene. Ball contact with clothes. Importantly, it is also a good seal design to prevent children from opening by mistake. On the other hand, this material is also permeable to the active substances of camphor repellents.

Higher production capacity

For the health ball, this is a very clever packaging, so it has caused a very obvious question, whether it is an economically viable solution. Tokyo Foods Machinery has solved this cost requirement. Toru Orimi, sales manager at Tokyo Foods Machinery explained: “Customers need a machine that can achieve satisfactory packaging yields while saving operating costs. Therefore, it invested in a fully-automated Multivac R 530. Thermoforming machine."

This is an investment that brings satisfactory returns: The production speed of the R 530 machine is 12 sets per minute, 36 in each group, which is 432 packages per minute. This speed is very fast. At the same time, the R 530 machine significantly reduces labor costs because it only needs a few people to run.

The R 530 is a thermoforming machine. First, the packages are formed from a soft or rigid lower shell mold on the forming table. They are formed under the action of heat, vacuum and pressure. Even a complex shape like Gon Gon alpha can be produced by this process. After being manufactured by this method, the packages are filled in the machine manually or automatically. It is open so that it is easy to fill from the top.

The package is then sealed by a top mesh cover and separated from the other packages.

The lower shell made of a hard PET film is used to hold a Gon Gon alpha hygienic ball, and the upper shell is a composite of PE and EVA membranes. The adhesive between the two films is not as effective between the PE and PET films, so the EVA film can be easily peeled off.

Personalized development

The setting of the filling process is a particularly demanding job, and Toru Orimi recalled: “The extremely high production speed of the R 530 makes it very complicated to put the hygiene ball in the packaging. Therefore, it is necessary to develop a filling system. Operational specifications are indeed a challenge.” For Multivac technical service personnel, this is an exciting challenge. After constant adjustment, the pick-and-place system is finally well-adapted to the machine's production cycle, resulting in perfect synchronization.

For Multivac, adapting to the customer's specific requirements is a guideline rather than an exception: The key components of the machine are specifically designed for each customer's specific program. Tetsushi Hata probably described several points: “The sealing, forming and die cutting are all designed according to the specific needs of the user, that is, they are developed and manufactured according to the customer's packaging scheme requirements; the molds are also specially designed; This optimizes the width of the rim of the package housing, which minimizes the amount of film to be cut, thus saving material; the machine length, control system and pump capacity are also specially designed."

The machine installed at Kincho may set a precedent for other home hygiene products, as Toru Orimi points out: “The exquisite packaging enhances the quality of the product. The customer has managed to make a lot of profit through the R 530. The combination of higher yields and reliable processes is a persuasive reason for customers to invest in such a Multivac thermoforming machine."

Source: International Packaging Business