An assembly is provided for turning a food product into slices of food product. The assembly includes a microbial treatment assembly configured to move the food product along a path, and a microbial intervention apparatus configured to substantially reduce an amount of microbes on an exterior surface of the food product while the food product is traveling along the path, a slicing machine downstream of the microbial treatment assembly, the slicing machine being configured to slice the food product into slices, an enclosure in which the slicing machine is positioned, the enclosure being sealed from outside atmosphere, and a microbial treatment apparatus in communication with the enclosure and configured to deter the growth of microbes on the food product.

A method for producing a package comprising a formed part having at least one product cavity, and a lidding film covering the at least one product cavity, comprises the steps of: (a) defining a seam; (b) dividing the seam into a plurality of sections; (c) determining a pull-off force for pulling the lidding film from the formed part at least for a first section; and (d) sealing the lidding film to the formed part by means of a sealing device, wherein at least one first sealing temperature is selected for the first section based on the pull-off force determined according to step (c).

A method for producing and inspecting a package comprising at least one product cavity of a formed part sealed by a lidding film comprises the steps of: (a) sealing the lidding film to the formed part along a seam by means of a sealing device, which comprises a sealing contour with a plurality of segments; (b) detecting, by means of the sealing device, a parameter characteristic of the sealing quality of the seam in each segment; and (c) detecting a problem with the sealing according to step (a) based on the parameter detected according to step (b) in each segment.

An inspection device includes: an irradiator that irradiates an object with near-infrared light; a spectroscope that has a slit where reflected light enters and that disperses the reflected light into wavelength component lights; an imaging device that comprises an imaging element that takes a spectroscopic image of the wavelength component lights; and a processor that: obtains spectral data based on the spectroscopic image; and detects a type of the object using a predetermined analysis based on the spectral data. Each of the wavelength component lights is a single wavelength light, the inspection device satisfies L≥2P, where L is a width of each of the wavelength component lights in a wavelength dispersion direction on a light receiving surface of the imaging element and P is a width of a pixel in the wavelength dispersion direction on the light receiving surface.

A heat sealing machine and method form blister packages. A backing material web extends between a nesting tray assembly and a seal and cut tooling assembly and a blister tray is resident within a blister nest of the nesting tray assembly. The backing material web is clamped between a clamping gasket support shoulder of the nesting tray assembly and a clamping shoulder of the seal and cut tooling assembly, and between a sealing gasket support shoulder of the nesting tray assembly and a heat seal shoulder of a heater assembly. A knife of the seal and cut tooling assembly extends between the clamping gasket support shoulder and the sealing gasket support shoulder to cut a backing sheet from the backing material web that is heat sealed to an attachment surface of the blister tray to form the blister package.

Provided is a film thermoforming device of a blister packaging machine in which molding can be carried out without extreme reduction in a sheet thickness of a top surface portion of a pocket, and without warpage, which allows stacking, and stable molding can be performed at a high rate. This film thermoforming device comprises a compressed air blowing mechanism that is disposed at a forming mold 5A and that has a compressed air blowing pore 53a which is open at an inner bottom portion of a pocket hole 52 of the forming mold 5A, and a compressed air blowing pore 53b which is open around the pocket hole 52 of the forming mold 5A.

A method for producing a container having an upper part, a lower part and a receiving element such as an electronics module includes the following steps: the lower part is created from a first starting material in a first processing region of a processing device; the upper part is created from a second starting material in a second processing region of the processing device; the receiving element is fed into the first processing region of the processing device; the lower part receives the receiving element in the first processing region of the processing device; the upper part is fed from the second processing region into the first processing region of the processing device; and there the upper part and the lower part are joined together to form the container.

A method for producing a package which has a formed part with a product cavity, and a lidding film covering the product cavity. According to the method, a seam is defined, the seam is divided into sections, a pull-off force for pulling the lidding film from the formed part at least for a first section is determined, and the lidding film is sealed to the formed part. The sealing temperature for the first section is selected based on the pull-off force.

Products are loaded into receptacles by means of a transfer device, which comprises a plurality of pick-up heads, each of which picks up a product. The products are provided in a random arrangement in a pick-up area, and the position of each product is detected. To pick up the products, the transfer device is moved over the pick-up area and each pick-up head picks up an individual product at a pick-up time and in a pick-up position. The pick-up position and the pick-up time for the products are determined on the basis of the previously detected positions of the products. The placement of the products in a placement area also occurs preferably while the transfer device is moving relative to the receptacles.

A method for packaging and processing products in a continuously operating production line, including filling individual packaging containers with products in a filling station; dispensing the filled containers to an individualizing device in multiple tracks by a dispensing station, the individualizing device transferring the packaging containers onto a single track of a conveyor; transporting the containers by the conveyor one after another to at least one additional processing station, and operating the individualizing device in one of the following three operating modes: a) a normal mode in which the packaging containers are transferred from the dispensing station onto the single track of the conveyor, b) an on-stock mode in which the packaging containers are transferred from the dispensing station to a temporary store, and c) a low-load mode in which the packaging containers are transferred from the temporary store onto the single track of the conveyor.