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F W Mansfield's first year of their palletisers running saw lines 5 & 6 left out; the problem children with lumps of coal for Christmas whilst the other were wrapped in cashmere with silver spoons in mouths. Well no more, come in from the cold little ones and enjoy the sweet embrace of end of line palletising. We always loved you really.

This has meant a reconfiguration of various aspects of the previous project, a perfect game of tetris has been completed to fit better than OJ's glove. The empty box infeed has switched sides and an additional strapper (I said strapper...) has been placed next to the first one to increase capacity to keep up with the palletisers. This now means there is a full pallet coming off the strappers every 4 minutes, so in the time it's taken to write this article 4836 pallets have been produced and strapped.

This plus the additional 2 palletisers means all lines are taken care and nearly fully automated. One or two more aspects and we can switch off the lights and walk away whilst the product goes from tree to shelf seamlessly without touching human hands. The last piece of the puzzle is case packers and BURG have finally created the perfect machine for the job, so watch this space for them to install and dominate the market for years to come.

This is but another part of Lee's master plan for the top fruit packhouse and my deary me how well has it come together! It's almost like he knows what he's doing...

You won't have to wait long until the next project at F W Mansfield's so keep your eyes peeled and your wits sharp. 

ACH farming have gone from strength to strength in recent years going from a relatively small shed full of graders running flat out, to a huge shed full of graders and packing machinery running flat out. Their unshakable bond with LIDL has been at the core of the rapid but controlled growth they’ve had in the past few years; not even covid could keep them apart.

After initially putting in 3 packing lines, Tom decided this wasn’t enough for the surging business and has now installed a 4th line, another BFI to add to the collection. It stands proudly next to it’s brother in arms and the crowded packhouse becomes yet more populated! This increases the capacity for flow wrapping considerably, adding another 80 ppm behemoth to the repertoire of packing possibilities for which ACH Farming are so flexible – switching between packing bags, trays and trayless packs with ease.

As well as the new BFI there is now a bagger on a roll (https://www.burgmachinefabriek.nl/en/machines/bzv-bagfiller/) to fill the new, unquenchable thirst for 2kg bags, whilst still having the ability to do any bag from 0.5kg to 3.5kg should the mood strike. This is fed quite cleverly, by the existing polybagger machines counting the apples and moving them onto a batch belt then into the BZV. This gives a capacity of around 18 bags per minute for 2kg bags and up to 30 for lower kg bags. This kind of speed with no human intervention exponentially increases efficiency and reduces cost per bag for yet further automated packing.
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As always, a big thank you to Tom Hulme for the order, Tracy Briggs for her astute eye during proceedings and our dear and fluffy Joan van Burg for his usual expertise. We look forward to our next project together with ACH Farming in the very near future! 

Is your sprayer purring like a kitten? Well that’s a sign of imminent death and you should contact us immediately for a complete overhaul. Only kidding (probably). We stand ready, willing and able to handle all sprayer servicing needs you have to throw at us this season from the trusty trailed sprayer to the gentle giant of a 3 row. We have all the parts at the ready to give the sprayer a once over and make sure all commonly perishable parts are renewed in time for their winter hibernation and spring awakening.

Please don’t hesitate to contact us today to organize your sprayer NSTS, service or purchase and we will book you into our high tech wall calendar. 

Those who book a service and NSTS simultaneously will receive a 10% discount on the NSTS certificate giving you even more reason to call us today on 01227 765069 or ping us an email at [email protected]
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Until next time, my wind demon jockeys…