Hobart has announced the launch of its new Next Generation Wrapper (NGW) designed to increase efficiency by reducing downtime and minimizing service calls to deliver the best total cost of ownership. This highly connected product is the solution to working most effectively in fast-paced, high volume environments.
Hobart Automatic Wrapping Machines allow businesses to seamlessly wrap, label and weigh products. The NGW keeps meat and seafood products safe, beautifully packaged and moving easily from shelf to checkout. The NextGen Double Roll and NextGen Single Roll systems incorporate many key features designed to keep cold rooms running such as:
- Reduce Maintenance – closed-loop sensors, “copy machine” diagnostics on the machine and tank-based pneumatics to prevent water from gathering in the system
- Reduce Downtime – simplified timings, intuitive/simple board design and remote diagnostics capability
- Efficient – Four-way stretch of film and two-roll machine options for maximum efficiency
- Ease of Use – Customer-friendly user interface with patented swipe screen technology, mode changes made easy, simple label placement adjustments
- Hose down capability
“When it comes to keeping food fresh and ready for display, loose package wraps diminish the product’s appearance, or worse yet, lead to spoilage, and that is not an option,” says Cherie Buhler, Hobart director of marketing. “Our automatic wrapping systems are designed to save costs for the customers from less downtime and less maintenance. They are robust and designed to last beyond ten years for high volume environments compared to others on the market that typically run into real issues in about half that time.”
An advanced vision system allows the Hobart NGW to automatically measure packages. The machine then centers packages as they are fed in and decides which roll of film should be used to wrap the package (in a double roll machine). It can weigh, wrap and label large, tall and wide packages and eliminates the need to weigh, wrap and label packages at a remote hand-wrap station.
Designed to reduce film costs, the NextGen Double Roll machine will select the right film for each package while the NextGen Single Roll machine uses one film roll for easier ordering. This flexibility and the ability to use any film brand lowers the overall total cost of ownership.
The large, 14-inch touch screen interface enhances productivity utilizing the patented three-screen swipe technology. The most common functions are just a swipe away instead of having to navigate menus.
Sensor-based operation cuts down on the film jams that can disable timing-based machines, while sealed pneumatics withstand the cold room humidity and moisture that can typically reduce the life of electromechanical wrappers. There is no need to stop and reorient the packages as the NGW automatically centers the trays for trouble-free operation. The NGW grants both side and back access to the film area, and the film slides on the shaft and centers automatically.
