Changeover Magic!

Published: December 31, 2005, By Nsenga Byrd Thompson, Assoc. Editor

Bag Making

Nestled in the quaint midwest town of Pleasant Prairie, WI, PPC Industries keeps a relatively low profile—and plans to keep it that way. With 70 employees and a 100,000-sq-ft facility to operate its 20-plus extrusion lines (including in-line bagmaking) and extensive converting operation, PPC is proud to be able to service its clients efficiently and at a moment’s notice, an advantage the company believes it has over larger, more well-known companies.

But when asked by PFFC to discuss the addition of a Mamata Vega 800 Plus bagmaker, PPC Industries opened its doors to talk about the installation.

Getting Acquainted
When Craig Carlson, engineering manager at PPC Industries, attended CMM Intl. in Chicago in 2003, he admits Mamata wasn’t on his list of companies to visit—but it wasn’t because of lack of interest.

“We really didn’t even know Mamata existed until we went to CMM in 2003. We were just wandering around and came to this booth with a bag machine and observed it in operation,” Carlson recalls.

“It had some features we thought would fit with our particular needs, so we purchased the machine right off the floor. It was the one they had on display and running. [We] proceeded to have it shipped to our plant in Pleasant Prairie and started it up the next week. It’s been running ever since.”

Carlson explains that even though Mamata still is building its presence in the US (it set up offices in Montgomery, IL), the company’s bagmaking technology is cutting edge and worthy of its budding success here in the States. Most notable, for Carlson, are the impressive changeover times the equipment offers, specifically in converting from side-weld to bottom-seal operations.

“The primary feature [that caught our attention] was the ability to go from side-weld operation to bottom-seal in a matter of 10 to 15 minutes,” he says. “That’s the first time we’d seen a machine do that. With other machines, you’re talking five to six hours of changeover time going between side-weld and bottom-seal. That was a really big selling point for us, because we have a lot of smaller-run orders that we need to go back and forth on. We felt this one machine could replace several other machines that we have set up specifically for either side-weld or bottom-seal type bags.”

Up and Running
Bringing the bagmaker straight from CMM onto the PPC Industries’ plant floor proved to be a smooth transition.

“It came in [and] started right up. We had a service technician who provided training for our operating personnel here, and one of the things that was a nice surprise was that the machine was operator-friendly,” says Carlson. “It is relatively simple to operate, and a lot of the parts are available right off the shelf in the US. It’s proved to be very reliable for us. Besides that, it was a lot of machine for the money.”

Carlson reports that along with its ease of use, the Vega 800 Plus eliminated the need for some of the company’s older pieces of equipment and boosted productivity.

“It’s hard to put a definitive number on that, but it’s definitely improved our efficiencies, and it opened up some space. We were able to eliminate some of our older bag machines. We’ve been very happy with the performance of the machine.”

Thanks to the Vega 800 Plus, PPC Industries streamlined its operations and made greater strides in serving its niche markets, specifically the medical and food packaging industries. “It basically did everything we purchased it for and then some,” says Carlson.

As for opening its doors to more publicity and growing the company name, Carlson maintains PPC Industries is happy with how it’s doing business and has done business for more than 50 years.

“I don’t know if it’s intentional or not, but we don’t feel like we have to blow our own horn. We have a very good customer base, and we keep them very happy with our customer service, quality, and our ability to respond to their needs very quickly.”