Case Study: Solving Tobacco Packaging Issue With the MARTIN® NTK® Oscillator

Problem

An Indiana chewing tobacco manufacturer was having quality and quantity problems with a particular product: ground tobacco contained in a small paper pouch, commonly referred to as chew or snuff.

Situation

The problem was that, as the automated machinery dropped the desired 20 pouches into a small cylindrical plastic can, the pouches would lay on the edge of the can. When the lid was put on, the pouches would be squashed, half in and half out of the container. This would obviously cause a rejected can. In addition, the pouches would get clogged in the machinery prior to dropping into the can. This would result in one can having perhaps 16 pouches while another might have 24 pouches.

Solution

MARTIN^® Vibration Systems recommended mounting a MARTIN^® NTK^® Oscillator (NTK-8AL) under each loading point. This small vibrator moves and compacts the pouches properly in the can. At the same time, it keeps the pouches flowing freely down the loading tube. An estimated 40% rejection rate has now been reduced to less than 5%, and the cans have the proper number of pouches in them.