Ongoing cooperation with Isover Saint-Gobain: plant in Orange (France)
Since April 2016, MSK and Isover have been working on a new project to equip Isover’s plant in Orange, in the South of France, with a brand new stretch hooding solution for their pallets. Product and site specifications had to be taken into consideration to find the most suitable packaging system.
New system for a long-term customer
As a long term customer Isover, international producer of insulation products, naturally contacted MSK in 2016, when it started its new project to equip its plant in Orange (South of France) with a packaging system. Isover was facing numerous issues with this particular project – special production requirements, product specifications etc. One challenge was wrapping a new product that was very sensitive to moisture. The project goal was to find a supplier which was able to provide a system to make the loads waterproof, preferably with a pre-packaging made of stretch hood.In January/February 2017, MSK suggested that Isover should perform a series of packaging trials on their products at the Saint-Gobain plant using the latest generation of MSK Tensiontech stretch hooding machine.
MSK uses a special technology which creates reliable welds on the film hoods, providing products with optimal protection from environmental impacts. The system in Orange is able to wrap up to 95 pallets per hour (with the possibility of achieving 120 pallets/hour in the future), with four different film formats. The film hoods are stretched individually for each pallet size, to any longitudinal and transversal coordinates.At the end of the tests, Isover Group’s central engineering department approved the solution of hooding half loads before palletizing. Thanks to MSK’s extensive experience (over 40 years) in the field packaging and conveying systems and the numerous options offered by the group, MSK’s suggested solution proved to be the most suitable one.
A specific solution for a specific project
Unlike standard projects with palletized loads, this project involved products that had to be handled without a pallet. This meant that a suitable solution had to be found to avoid damaging or marking the product while it was being conveyed, centered and hooded. MSK’s experience in the paper industry was very useful in this regard – MSK developed a plastic plate conveyor combined with a belt conveyor, that was adjustable in length, for this specific application. This was the most suitable solution to complete the system that was being offered to Isover. MSK faced a number of constraints, and especially the longtitudal or transverse arrival of products at the hooding station. To guarantee optimal hooding and to master hood consumption, MSK suggested using a turning head.
MSK also offered to provide an automatic flexible four-format stretch hooder, MSK Tensiontech, which enables a quick change of film rolls without stopping production flow. The layout of the system was very important and had to take into account, both the loading of all four film racks on only one side of the system and the available space in the existing line.
In summary, this unique half load packaging solution was made possible thanks to MSK Covertech Group’s willingness to offer a customized solution that is not a standard on the packaging market.
MSK EMSY – intelligent control and networking
Isover has also decided to integrate MSK EMSY software to control the entire packaging line. The MSK EMSY 5.4 control and visualization software enables the tailor-made implementation of the required processes by MSK programmers, as well as the easily understandable visualization for the operator. The clearly structured user interface with intuitive touch-screens and 3-D graphics makes the search for functions and operation manageable and convenient. Important status information is available at a glance. If needed, the system can also manage information provided by peripheral devices, such as scanners etc.
MSK – Partner of industry for more than 40 years
The MSK Covertech Group has been a partner of the industry for film packaging systems such as shrink wrap and stretch hood systems, unwrapping machines, pallet handling and conveyor systems, as well as the corresponding control software for more than 40 years. The company offers development, production and service from a single source. With their decades of experience, the specialists provide customized solutions for various industries based on customer-specific requirements. With over 500 employees and locations in Germany, France, Hungary, the USA and China, MSK is one of the internationally leading suppliers for pallet packaging systems.
