Engineering Excellence
Fonterra, the world’s leading exporter of dairy products, recently invited GEA Avapac and JMP Engineering to jointly participate in the 2008 Engineering Excellence Awards held at the Te Papa museum in Wellington, New Zealand.
Begun in 2005, the Engineering Excellence Awards are the premier awards for the engineering professionals of New Zealand. The awards are presented in two major areas: Individual Awards, recognising leadership, innovation, entrepreneurship and young engineers; and Category Awards recognising achievement in the various industry areas together with a Supreme Award for the best of the Category winners.
Award recipients pictured above.
Over 300 people attended the awards, which were presented by the award sponsors, leading business leaders and ministers of the New Zealand government. After a rousing welcome the entire room stood up for the National Anthem which was sung in both English and in the native Maori language.
The Lights out Packing process was entered in two categories and took the top prize in the Mechanical and Manufacturing award. The Lights out Packing is the result of a joint development between GEA Avapac and Fonterra, which brings together powder handling, packing and palletising into a process with unprecedented reliability and accuracy. The implications of this are far reaching for the powder packing industry - from safety, health and hygiene to huge savings in labor costs and in product and packaging losses.
Using the now 3rd generation RBFLi filling technology enables powdered product manufacturers to pack at high accuracy and reliability with limited intervention from operators. In one plant, a single operator monitors 5 packing lines producing in excess of 50 tonnes/hr!
Since its introduction in 2004, GEA Avapac has now produced and installed 11 Lights out installations in both New Zealand and the USA. With secured orders for three more lines in
New Zealand and one in Ireland plus anticipated orders for up to five more lines in Europe and the USA, the Lights out Packing concept has truly come of age.
For more information about “Lights out Packing” technology, please contact GEA Avapac or click the related links on this page.