Trascar Offers Innovative Solution For Cured Meat Packaging

Trascar, a company headquartered in Bomporto, Modena, specialized in the design, production and marketing of logistics, end of line automation and palletization systems, is introducing an innovative solution for the packaging of trays for cold cuts at the Ipack-Ima fair in Milan. Paired with an integrated vision system and featuring reduced dimensions, it proved to be the ideal solution to the packaging problems of major cured meat factories.

Market's need and Trascar's answer
Nowadays two main critical situations can be found in the boxing processes of the packaging lines of sliced products such as cold cuts: on the one hand you have the quality control of the product inside the packaging, which relies on the visual skills of operators, on the other hand, the process of inserting the trays in boxes or display units is handled by automated systems which are complex and expensive. In the most widespread case packing machines, the movement of the tray is executed by two pick and place robots which, respectively, execute the formation of the stack by picking up a single tray at a time and then the boxing, with great energy consumption and a high chance of errors, large machine dimensions and a high probability of technical problems. In order to address these issues, Trascar has introduced a solution marketed under the name "Thelma", based on the employment of a stacker unit and a single robot able to stack and pick up the stack of trays with a single movement.

Performance, reliability and precision
Thelma's speed is 100 trays a minute (depending on the size): a value which is in line with top-performing packaging lines (which rarely exceed 100 trays a minute). It is, however, in terms of handling and precision that the machines shows major advantages. The robot equipped in the machine can handle the packaging whether this arrives straight or reversed, inserting it inside boxes or display units with different sizes with smooth and fast movements. Thelma, then, is a multi-format machine (30 basic programs), that can work with trays and boxes of different thicknesses and shapes, offering a product handling that is both simple and innovative.

Developed in the field to meet the need of a global market
The machine was developed in the field: two different prototypes were tested and used for more than six months at the factories of some of the most important Italian cured meat companies. Thus it was possible for the clients to appreciate the benefits of the machine in terms of its reliability, easy operation and maintenance.  While it is a particularly small solution (the machine takes up about 9m²), Thelma is technologically advanced and proves to be the ideal solution for all companies selling products such as sliced chicken, turkey, ham, salami or mortadella. Trascar's machine comes complete with all its internal transportation and palletization units for the boxed product.

Thelma can be seen for the first time in the world at Ipack-Ima, in Trascar's booth: 
Hall 14, Booth E37- F38

For more information, visit www.trascar.it.