Tray sealer brings savings and efficiency for strawberry packer

28 March 2013

A Scottish fruit grower which produces more than three million packs of strawberries annually has seen significant savings since installing a Proseal GT2 tray sealer.

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D Geddes (Farms) took the decision to move to heat sealing from a conventional lid to reduce its environmental impact and improve product safety, by creating a film seal which is broken by the end consumer.

After evaluating several machinery options, D Geddes (Farms) chose the Proseal GT2, an automatic, large capacity, high speed in-line tray sealing system designed to cut labour costs and produce 90+ packs per minute.

Since installing the machine, D Geddes (Farms) has found it can pack 20 per cent more units in 20 per cent fewer man hoursthan on its lidding line. Asa result of the scale of the savings, the company believes that the payback on the Proseal GT2 came during 2011, in only its second season of fruit packing.

The Proseal GT2 is a fully automatic high speed tray sealing system combining high throughput with rapid tool change and space saving compact design.

Capable of 90+ packs per minute with a six-impression tool, the GT2 system is packed with user friendly benefits including Proseal’s special lightweight high strength tooling.

D Geddes (Farms), based near Arbroath in Scotland, produces around 1,000 tonnes of strawberries annually.

The company’s fruit manager, Andrew Cranston, confirms: “This machine can easily cope with our peak of production and we were impressed with the reputation for quality and service that was being portrayed in the industry.

“Proseal have brought to the industry a product which is innovative, efficient, aids food safety and reduces waste. Very importantly, this is backed up with a service which is second to none.”