Dairy

Cheese slices

The 2008 TLM Packaging Machine of the Year places cheese slices in retail packages at Karwendel. A prerequisite for the TLM of the Year is that it is based on a good concept. In the case of the Karwendel machine, this is clearly due to the fact that three TLM-F4 robots are used for grouping. These place 200 cheese slices per minute on a grouping belt, which come from a thermoforming machine.

The attentive, qualified observer quickly notices that one of the two TLM-F44 cells is only equipped with one robot arm. As a result, there is a lot of potential should the 200 cheese slices one day become 300. The product enters from the right, past the erecting machine and the filling machine, to the TLM-F44 machines. There, the cheese slices are placed on the grouping belt in accordance with the package content. The grouping belt moves continuously to the right, controlled by the TLM-F44 robots, i.e. in the opposite direction of the boxes. These in turn run to the left from the erecting machine (right). The filling machine (center), equipped with two TLM-F2 robots, picks up the cheese slices from the grouping belt and places them in layers in the retail cartons, which have been erected and glued from flat box blanks. The TLMF2 robot, integrated into the first TLM-F44 machine, closes the filled cartons by gluing the attached lid.

One of the machine’s special features is the filling tools, which place the cheese slices in the retail cartons. The cheese slices are positioned at an angle while they pass the opening of the boxes, i.e. they are more or less ”threaded“ into the boxes. Of course, there is fast convertibility thanks to a simple tool change. Several sizes are packaged on the machine and, like all TLM machines, the Karwendel one is also immediately ready for full operation following the size change, which takes just a few minutes.

Mozarella

The TLM packaging machine for Goldsteig Mozzarella can packagetwo different types of mozzarellaat the same time, Mozzarellaand Mozzarella Light. In all, 180 mozzarella bags can be packaged per minute. Mozzarella arrives from the right on a continuous product belt in two rows. Mozzarella Light is fed on two side belts and stacked in the sales carton at a variable mixture ratio.

Three TLM-F4 robots share the task of loading sales cartons. Three sizes are run on the machine: a 10x carton with a separate lid, in which the mozzarella bags are presented upright, a 20x carton with a so-called suspender closureand a 40x carton, also with a suspender closure, into which the mozzarella bags can be placed overlapped.

Butter cups

Increasingly, palletizing is being implemented by TLM packaging machines. This is also the case at Elvir, the delicious butter brand everyone knows. Four TLM sub-machines handle erecting, filling and closing of the boxes and palletizing of 220 butter packages per minute. 

In the box-filling station, twelve butter cups are gripped simultaneously, split into two layers of six and placed in a shipping carton erected from a flat lying blank. All TLM machines have it in common. It's a well-laid-out design and excellent accessibility to all functions. TLM packaging machines can, as is the case with Elvir, be single-purpose machines or true miracles of flexibility when the market demands it. The simple mechanical design, intelligent control and changeable tools make it possible.