Flow wrapper Troubleshooting

Symptoms: Graphics wander along the pack, cut lands mid-print, waste film piles up at restarts. Likely causes: Eye-mark sensor dirty or misaligned; Film slipping at the draw rollers; Unwind tension unstable. Fixes: Clean the registration sensor, re-teach on the actual film lot and verify mark contrast; a misread mark walks the cutoff. Check draw roller pressure and wear; dusty or waxy films need cleaning cadence on the rollers. Service the unwind brake or dancer so tension stays constant as the roll diameter falls. Prevention: Sensor cleaning cadence, re-teach at every film lot change, draw roller wear checks, unwind tension verification in PM.

Symptoms: Packs open at the crimp, channel leaks at the corners, dark scorched seals on slowdowns. Likely causes: Crimper temperature wrong for the speed; Worn or dirty crimper jaws; Film or gusset misfolded at the seal. Fixes: Match sealing temperature to line speed and film spec; fixed heat that is right at full speed burns seals at crawl. Clean product residue from the knurls and re-cut or replace worn jaws; damaged knurls leave unfused channels. Check forming box setup and product height so extra film layers do not enter the crimp. Prevention: Seal integrity checks each shift (squeeze or dye test), jaw cleaning cadence, temperature-speed recipe per film.

Symptoms: Products tip or double up at the lugs, wrapper stops on product-in-seal faults, crushed product in the film tube. Likely causes: Infeed timing off vs product pitch; Irregular product size or shape; Worn lugs or guides. Fixes: Re-time the infeed so product centres between lugs; check the product-in-place sensor position. Tighten upstream size control; oversize product strikes the forming box and jams. Replace bent lugs and worn side guides that let product skew before the tube. Prevention: Infeed timing check at changeover, upstream product size audits, lug and guide inspection in PM.