Efficient Sack Handling: Filling & Emptying

With increasing pressure to work within tightened budgets and shortening lead times, it is important to achieve a streamline production process to ensure that increased demand can be embraced in an accurate and efficient manner.

Tong Engineering, leading UK manufacturer of bespoke industrial and agricultural machinery, has been making specialist equipment for the bulk handling material process since the 1930s. With over 80 years experience in industrial automation, bagging and conveying systems, it caters for projects of any size, from single bagging applications to complete plant installations incorporating washing, grading and packing lines.

With gentle and efficient handling in mind, Tong Engineering offers a complete sack handling solution, which will weigh and fill bulk products in a fast and simple way.

Tong Engineering’s semi-automatic weighing system, complemented with an automatic bag closer and stitcher, offers a complete solution. The easily adjustable weighing system comprises of a Tong Engineering weigher with twin cleated belts for accurate filling and weighing of bulk materials into sacks or bags.

Individual bags are placed in bag jaws under the outlet chute and once bags are in the clamped position, the machine starts the feed of product into the bag. Both cleated belts run until a weight close to the predetermined target weight is reached, at which point the main belt stops and the smaller ‘trickle’ belt finely tunes the weight of the bag to complete the process for an accurate final weight. The bag is then automatically released onto the bag conveyor to be presented to the bag closing and stitching line. Tong Engineering weighing machines can be manufactured to suit 10kg – 50kg bags, offering versatile weighing of various bag and sack types including paper, hessian and plastic, with alternative sack closing solutions such as heat sealing, available to suit.

When complemented with an automatic bag closer and vee-track conveyor, the weighing and filling process is completed. The automatic bag closer incorporates an integrated Newlong NP7A fixed-head stitcher, which is adjustable in height and comes complete with an automatic cutting mechanism. The vee-track conveyor has automatic guide blades, activated by a bag sensor to prepare the bag for stitching. The conveyor is easily adjustable in height, allowing for different size bags. This is perfect for customers such as packhouses, which often process different crop types at different times of the year.  An inclined conveyor is also available which takes the filled bag onto horizontal gravity rollers for operator comfort when stacking or palletising.

Edward Tong, Tong Engineering’s operations director says: “By using our automatic and semi-automatic sack filling solution, customers will be able to benefit from gentle, fast and accurate bag weighing and closing, suitable for anyone bagging large quantities of crop, bark or even coal.

“Robust and reliable, this solution is supplied with fully customised weighing software. By using an automatic system, there are significant advantages, including reduced labour costs and increased production and efficiency.”