How to Effectively Seal Products with Automated Packaging Machinery

Packages with insufficient seals can compromise your product and subsequently hurt your company. Inadequate sealing can result in higher costs for machine reworking, recalibration, scrap, and spill cleanup. For perishables such as food items, a bag without a proper seal can result in shorter shelf life, poor product quality, risk of contamination, and messes for consumers.

Forming Adequate Seals with Heat Sealing

Most versatile packaging machines create seals using heat seal jaws or bars. When heated, these parts close over the portion of the package where the seal will be, causing the sealant layers to melt and fuse together. However, certain factors can result in faulty seals.

Here are some of the preventable issues.

Poor Sealing Jaw Construction and Uniformity

One issue that could happen has to do with poor uniformity. The strength of a packaging seal must be uniform to properly protect the packaged product. Sealing jaws can only create the perfect seal if they operate with consistent force and temperature across the entire sealing area. To make sure your seals are uniform, choose a packaging machine with sealing jaws that have been forged from a single piece of metal. This can help avoid temperature and pressure fluctuations, resulting in a strong seal.

The problem with sealing jaws made with more than one piece of metal is that they can create inconsistent seals because of fluctuating pressure and temperatures.

Misaligned Sealing Jaws

If package seals are weak on one side but strong on the other, this likely indicates that your jaws are poorly aligned. Oftentimes packaging machine technicians and operators will move the jaws into alignment using a small piece of metal. However, this isn’t the safest method.

You’re better off following a preventative maintenance plan that checks for misalignment at various points throughout the machine’s lifespan, such as:

Prior to startup
Following a material jam
Following changeovers
Following recent maintenance or upgrades

Dust & Debris in the Seal Area

When product is present in the bag seam throughout the heat sealing process, the areas where the product is present won’t adhere properly. This can have a negative impact on seal integrity, resulting in risk of leaking and contamination. To prevent dust from gathering on the seal area, you should clean it periodically.

Perform Preventative Maintenance

Packaging machine technicians or operators should clean and inspect sealing jaws on a daily basis as part of a complete preventative maintenance plan. This can help ensure that dust and other particulate won’t build up on the sealing bars. This can also help make sure that any small issues with sealing jaw alignment or function are identified and addressed before they can become a major problem.

Impulse Sealing

Rather than heat sealing, another sealing method to consider is impulse sealing. Unlike heat seal jaws that require consistent electricity and heat, impulse sealing bands only need electrical energy, creating heat solely during the heating phase of the sealing cycle. These bands heat up and cool down within a few hundred milliseconds to a few seconds at most. This gives the package seal time to cool prior to being released from the sealing mechanism.

By avoiding the aforementioned issues and implementing preventative maintenance measures and cleaning, you can keep your packaging machines working the way they should.

Well-Versed in the Inventory

Packaging equipment companies frequently work with customers who aren’t necessarily sure what products and parts they need, and should be prepared to offer expert advice and instruction accordingly. To do this effectively, the company needs a full staff of highly trained and knowledgeable employees who are well-versed in their inventory.

As a client, you should be skeptical of companies dealing used packaging machinery when they don’t seem particularly familiar with their own product. If a business is unable to advise you on choosing a machine or selecting a part, they are unlikely to be helpful later on when you need assistance with integration or repairs.

Ability to Make Suggestions

The mark of a knowledgeable staff isn’t just familiarity with a business’s inventory—it’s the ability to make recommendations based on each customer’s specific needs and industry. The key to offering valuable help to clients is understanding how used packaging machinery function, and what goes into their construction. Knowing how they work and the differences between their materials, construction, and brand names is essential when it comes to offering guidance to customers who aren’t sure what they and their machines may need. An ability to discuss how to integrate the products into existing machinery is also helpful for people who are buying their products. When you choose a packaging equipment company, look for one that can offer you help when you need it in addition to simply selling you the products you want.

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How to Properly Seal Products with Packaging Machines