Problem: A large children's clothing manufacturer packed all their production in either full telescopic cases or hinged telescopic cases. As is customary with clothing, these cases tend to be overfilled.
Previously, the customer used two separate sealing stations. Small cases were compressed and strapped, while larger cases were compressed and sealed with four "L" clips.
However, the strapping was not cost effective due to material and repair costs. The taper was cost effective, but it was a uniform taper dedicated to one case size only. An additional problem was that with 2 sealers there also needed to be 2 weigh scale stations with operators.
Solution: A custom designed sealing system which featured the economy of tape, the flexibility of random operation, and compression of the air "on the fly" (which was gentler to the case and also allowed greater speeds.)
The system consists of three separate stations. First, the cases are indexed for separation and a top and bottom drive system squeezes out the air (on the fly) to fully seat the lid on the tray of the telescopic case. A patented front and rear "L" clip cartridge applies a 2" wide clip of tape to the leading and trailing panels of the case.
The second station consists of an in-line, 90-degree case turner. This station was custom-designed to save space and operate at speeds of up to 8 - 10 cases per minute for random cases.
The third station is a top and bottom drive random case sealer which also compresses the case and applies a leading and trailing "L" clip to the remaining sides of the case. This system also incorporates a sensing device which tells the machine to apply only 3 "L" clips to hinged telescopic cases.
