Are packaging leaks always caused by the packaging machine?
When a leak appears on a packaging line, the first reaction is often to blame the machine.
Insufficient welding temperature, inadequate pressure of the jaws, wear of sealing tools: these causes are regularly sought as a priority. Yet, in many cases, the problem is not with the machine itself.
Yet the reality is sometimes more complex.
These elements obviously have a direct influence on the quality of the packaging closure, but they are not the only parameters to be taken into account.
In some cases, the product itself may be the cause of the observed defects.
How can the product influence airtightness?
The tightness of a packaging depends on a set of interacting factors:
- The product itself
- Its form
- Its texture
- Its positioning in the packaging
- Conveyor systems
- The pushers
- The conditioning parameters
- Packaging materials
Let’s take the example of a wrapped madeleine individually. A recipe or presentation modification can change the behavior of the product during packaging:
- Addition of a chocolate topping
- Presence of vermicelli
- Modification of the surface texture
- Change of coating
These developments can change friction or the way the product is positioned in the packaging.
This illustrates an often underestimated reality: a leak can be the indirect consequence of a modification of the product itself.
A concrete example: the case of Breton shortbread biscuits
Another common case is to look for a welding problem when the origin of the defect lies much further upstream.
Let’s imagine a Breton patty packaging line. Sealing defects suddenly appear.
The teams then check:
- The welding temperatures
- The jaws
- The quality of the film
- The machine parameters
Everything seems to be in order. But after analysis, a difference appears: the organization of the cookies in the packaging has been changed.
For example:
- Change from three stacked patties to five patties
- Modification of the push system
- Changing the positioning of products
The material is identical. The machine is identical. The temperatures are identical. However, the way the patties are guided and positioned before sealing has changed.
This simple modification can be enough to generate sealing defects.
In this situation, acting on the temperature or pressure of the jaws will not solve the problem since the real cause is elsewhere.
Why measurement data is essential ?
One of the main risks when a leak appears is to focus on the most obvious hypothesis.
However, as the previous examples show, a lack of sealing can be linked to several factors, and without objective measurement, teams can spend a lot of time acting on the wrong lever.
On the contrary, if you have reliable data you can compare the actual influence of different variables and identify more quickly the root cause of the problem.
Thus, you will move from a curative logic to a preventive one: rather than correcting the defects once they have appeared, you can anticipate the impact of the modifications made to the process.
Conclusion
When a leak is detected, the welder shall not be automatically designated as responsible.
The product itself can influence the quality of welds and change the level of sealing achieved. That’s why you need to take into account the whole system: the packaging process, the materials used and the characteristics of the packaged product.
At Anéolia, we develop solutions dedicated to food packaging inspection in order to help manufacturers better understand the phenomena that influence the sealing of their packaging, based on measurable data rather than assumptions.