Mecmesin packaging tester saves company 40%

A bespoke Mecmesin force testing system used to perform integrity checks on basket carriers and cardboard box packaging has reduced a company's recall costs by 40%.

Graphic Packaging International, a leading designer and manufacturer of food and beverage packaging, is using the system to improve production line efficiency and maintain consistent standards of packaging quality.

The company required a special tensile test to be performed on flat packaging. The test method needed to open out the packaging, mimicking production line activity, in order to assess;

1. whether processes were optimised to enable the glue to set in time for the next stage of production

2. whether the application of the glue on the packaging tabs was correct to prevent the risk of packages not opening out, causing delays and misfeeds on the production line

Mecmesin provided a bespoke solution and worked in conjunction with Graphic Packaging International to create a vacuum fixture. This fixture uses suction to hold the surface of the flat-packed basket carrier throughout the tensile test. The bottom of the packaging is clamped onto a specially manufactured base plate located on Mecmesin’s semi-automatic force test system, the MultiTest-xt. This particular test method requires the packaging to be opened out at a speed of 500 mm/min to a maximum load of 11N.

Utilising this system, the company has been able to make significant quality improvements, and dramatically reduced recall costs incurred through packaging faults that were previously undetected.

Dale Baker, CI Manager at Graphic Packaging International comments,

“Companies show their worth when presented with a unique problem to solve. Be assured, I will have no hesitation in recommending Mecmesin to friends and business colleagues.”

Find out more about this Packaging Tensile Test Solution from Mecmesin.