The production of tinned products wrapped in a film packaging is extensively employed by the animal food producers. This type of packaging approached the European food market in the late 90s. At first those were sauces, vegetable tinned products, certain types of soups. Currently more & more manufactures of tinned products pay attention to this kind of packaging. The above packaging features a number of indisputable virtues:

1. Cheapness of materials as compared to metals, glass & plastics

2. A huge number of variations in types & volumes of pouches which can be packed on a single machine. The fact that transparency of the up-to-date materials is not significantly less as compared to a glass jar merits special attention since it is possible to "show the goods to full advantage".

3. Lightness of a package & preserved appearance. Just imagine which opportunities are afforded to the producer if it is feasible to deliver 100% of the preserved production over the vast territory of Russia & abroad with due regard for our "cautious" attitude towards transportation & storage at intermediate depots.

Now, a bit of "a fly in the ointment". It should be noted that 2 factors are the key hindrance to the development:

The first one is the composition of the materials.

There are lots of demands to the composition since a product in a film is subjected to a long-term (1 - 1, 5 hour) exposure of hot steam (120 - 140°С) under pressure. These factors produce an effect on the changes in the film molecular structure. Any variations in structure may lead to its degradation & alteration of the product taste qualities or even to the poisoning of the latter. Therefore, experiments carried out on composite films resulted in a certain formula & composition of the material.

The second, and not less important – the quality of the pouch sealed seams.

This parameter is defined by the potentials of a packaging machine or a machine which performs a pouch sealing. The basic requirement – a seam must withstand the breaking load of up to 3000 kg. Technologies have not come to a standstill and the companies which have accumulated a comprehensive store of knowledge of implemented solutions in the sphere of the material & equipment production are engaged in the ongoing perfection of their products guided by the experience of their customers. Thus, a composition of the packaging material components which is absolutely thermo stable & readily endures high temperatures & pressure has been determined.

A composition of the material produced by the HUHTAMAKI company (Germany) is referenced as an example:
for metallized films
OPP + Aluminum + PP
for transparent films:
OPP + PETP + ALOx + SIOx + PP

The cost of the above materials varies from Euro 8 to 13 per 1 kg. Hence, the cost of one packaging having the capacity of 250 g will amount to 1, 6 - 4 rubles approximately.

Compare this with the cost of a tin can or a glass jar. The specified price difference per one package depends on the packaging principle.

Two opportunities are available:
 making use of a finished pouch
 production of a pouch, its filling & final sealing on one machine.

What’s the difference? There are various arguments, however, it’s much easier to appeal to the European experience. The key criterion in selecting the type of a package to be used is the production output itself. In case a manufacturer produces 3-4 types of various products within a shift employing a single packaging machine it is more profitable to use a finished pouch due to reduction in time required for changing over from one product to the other and minimum reject resulted from the machine tuning & setup. Provided a manufacturer produces 1 - 2 types per shift it is more beneficial to use a machine designed for a pouch forming from a reel, due to which the economy of the material cost is achieved (in-house fabrication of a package is 20 - 25% less expensive than its procurement) and, hence, the efficiency is higher. Thus, we have smoothly approached the equipment itself. The Laudenberg company – this is the most renowned producer of this equipment on the European market.

FS machines

These are the machines which open up a pouch, dose a product & seal the top seam. The Laudenberg machines are based only on servo drives & mechanical assemblies which ensure 97% efficiency & economy of a package due to precision of the delivery & a system which will exercise control of a pouch filling thus ensuring that not a single pouch remains unfilled.

Rapidity of the Laudenberg format change ensures the machine switching over from one product to another within 15 minutes.

FFS machines

These automatic machines form a pouch from a reel, fill a product into the resulting pouch & seal the top seam. The Laudenberg machines are ideally suited for solving the problems related to gentle preservation since they have resolved 2 principally important aspects.

1. A dosing system
At present this is the most critical challenge. Since in the production of tinned products raw or half-finished products are used (meat, vegetables, fruit, fish, etc.) the problem related to a product adhesion, i.e. sticking to the doser surfaces must be solved. I am not going to disclose all secrets here and just say that 3 ways can be offered for solving this problem:
- bring a product readiness up to parameters acceptable to dosing;
- employ a product sprinkling prior to dosing;
- make use of cooled & desiccated air during dosing.

Anyway, the production of such dosers is a challenge & Laudenberg is successfully solving this complicated problem.

2. A sealing system

In this case the patented senso seal system is used which ensures 100% tightness of all sealed seams & their ability to endure huge rupture loads in the autoclave. In view of this it should be noted that simple seal drives on machines are not able to ensure tightness, therefore, special systems enabling to achieve uniform & controllable compression force exerted оn the film during sealing are employed. This is the only way to ensure a seam quality.

Talking about the top seam – ingress of a product or fat on the seam leads to a seal failure. Only high-tech companies are capable of handling this problem. Laudenberg appeared to be an innovator. By making use of a special ultrasonic sealing which does not melt the materials but forces the film molecules to coalesce Laudenberg has increased the output of qualitative pouches from the autoclave as high as 100%. No matter whether fat is available or not in the sealing area the Laudenberg ultrasonic unit will seal everything and in each case this will be tight.