Amid the roar of the packaging workshop, operator Lao Liu is holding a palm-sized mold component and lightly inserting it into the card slot of the bag-feeding packaging machine. With a "click" prompt sound, the green logo of "bag type switching completed" pops up on the display screen of the equipment-this production line has switched from 500g nut bags to 80g seasoning small packages, and the whole process takes only 8 minutes. Behind this seemingly simple action, it is the modular mold system of the intelligent bag-feeding packaging machine that is quietly exerting its strength.
In the past, if food companies needed to produce packaging bags of different specifications, they often had to stop the machine for several hours to replace the entire set of molds. A puffed food factory once calculated that every time the bag type is switched, 12 sets of bolts need to be removed and 6 key parameters need to be calibrated. The labor cost alone exceeds 2,000 yuan per time, not to mention the loss of production capacity caused by downtime. This chain effect of "a single move affects the whole body" has forced the industry to seek more flexible solutions.
Our R&D team has broken through the shackles of the integrated design of traditional molds and innovatively launched a modular mold system, the core of which includes three major technological innovations:
.Standardized interface architecture: using aviation-grade aluminum alloy frame and magnetic positioning structure, the installation accuracy of mold components is controlled within ±0.1mm, and no manual calibration is required;
.Split heat sealing unit: split the traditional welded sealing knife into independent modules, support single replacement or combined use, and adapt to 7 types of sealing requirements from flat bags to stand-up bags;
.Smart memory chip: each mold has a built-in RFID chip, and the device automatically loads the preset parameters (such as sealing temperature and filling speed) after reading, completely saying goodbye to manual debugging.
"Now it's as simple as changing the protective case for your phone." During the demonstration, Technical Director Zhang Gong completed the mold disassembly with only a hexagonal wrench. Actual measured data shows that this technology increases the efficiency of bag type switching by 85% and reduces the manual intervention link by 70%.
After a spicy strip enterprise in Hunan took the lead in introducing this technology, its star product "Spicy Konjac Strips" successfully expanded to 5 specifications of e-commerce customized packaging. Production Supervisor Manager Li said with emotion: "In the past, new specifications had to wait for the mold factory to open the mold. Now, standard components can be used to assemble special-shaped bags, and even the petal edge sealing can be achieved." What's more worth mentioning is that the modular design has greatly reduced the pressure on spare parts inventory-the company only needs to reserve 20% of the core components to cover 90% of the bag type requirements.
The new generation of modular mold system is equipped with edge computing capabilities. When the equipment detects that the frequency of use of a certain set of molds has increased abnormally, it will automatically analyze the wear data and push maintenance suggestions; at the same time, the system can simultaneously collect the production energy consumption of different bag types to provide data support for the company to optimize the packaging solution. A nut brand used this function and found that after reducing the bag mouth sealing width by 3mm, the monthly packaging material cost saved more than 120,000 yuan.
As the personalized needs of the food industry explode, the modular mold system of the smart bag-feeding packaging machine will continue to evolve. The R&D team is experimenting with 3D printing rapid prototyping technology. In the future, customers can upload design drawings through the cloud platform and get customized mold components within 72 hours. This "made-to-order" model may completely rewrite the technical ecology of food packaging equipment.
