One of the UK's leading manufacturers of wrapping machines, Ulma Packaging, will be taking its new Super Chik stretch film tray-wrapping machine to the Vegetable and Salads Focus show, at the Newark Showground in Nottinghamshire, UK, on 5 March. The exhibition provides a showcase for suppliers of services and equipment to put their products before leading growers from across the country.
The Super Chik is positioned as a high performance wrapping machine, which Ulma says was specially developed to cope with trays in central processing facilities. The easy handling of meat, poultry, fish and fruit as well as salads and vegetables is designed to make it ideal for high volume supermarket suppliers.
Ulma UK's managing director Derek Paterson claims that the wrapping machines is in a league of its own. "Its strength, reliability and ease of operation, coupled with its automatic size-change facility - which means it can quickly switch to accommodate different sized items - make it the most productive and versatile machine available."
The company expects the 'quick-change' facility - which comes without the need for operator intervention - to be a big talking point among visitors to Vegetable and Salads Focus. However, the machine's other features include dual film rolls with automatic roll selection, automatic recognition of tray dimensions and automatic selection of film length and width.
Standard characteristics include a universal elevator, self diagnostic capability and film tension control, along with forward and reverse jog capability, a mechanical torque limiter and guards and safety devices to international standards.
In addition, there are a number of optional features available, including an automatic infeed conveyor with tray centring device, centralised lubrication, a sanitary clean out tray, variable pre-stretch and an automatic image centring device for printed films.
Paterson is forecasting a great deal of interest in the Super Chik. "This is the first time vegetable and salads growers have had their own show and all the top people in the field will be attending. We believe the Super Chik, one of the most versatile pieces of equipment of its kind on the market, is ideal for the packaging of trays of many kinds of vegetables, from potatoes to chicory and from carrots to aubergines. And it is highly effective for packing salad ingredients, too, particularly tomatoes and trays of smaller items like radishes or spring onions."
Ulma says that it is taking the opportunity to exhibit at the show as a follow-up to the decision by the Spanish-based company to launch its own UK operation after years of relying on a network of distributors.