A free-standing blister pack made by heating molding plastic material, film or sheet, creating a container portion of a fixed space, storing a product such as cosmetic, fragrance, or homecare products in the space, and having a cover sheet attached to a flange of the container portion so as to create a sealing function. The blister packaging has a support structure to hold the blister upright after the removal of the perforation and score feature allowing the product to remain in a free-standing position after assembly.

A first film can be conveyed through a horizontal form-fill-seal machine that contains tooling stations in which bottom sealer bars are positioned in different tooling stations relative to side sealer bars. The first film can be processed by the machine to form a first pouch. After the first pouch is formed, a vertical height of one or more of the side sealer bars and/or one or more of the bottom sealer bars can be selectively adjusted. The same bottom and side sealer bars remain in the machine during the selective adjusting of the vertical height. After the selective adjusting of the vertical height of the component, a second film can be conveyed through the horizontal form-fill-seal machine. The second film can be processed by the machine to form a second pouch having at least one dimension that is different than the first pouch.

A hole cutter is provided for a thermoforming packaging machine. The hole cutter uses a single actuator to move a row of film-cutting punches between extended and retracted positions for cutting holes and corresponding chads in a marginal film area of a web of thermoformed product packages.

An inspection device for inspecting an inspection object portion in a PTP sheet, the inspection device including: an irradiator that irradiates the inspection object portion with light; an imaging device that takes an image of the inspection object portion irradiated with the light; a processor that detects a defect in the inspection object portion from the taken image by using a predetermined luminance threshold value, and determines whether the inspection object portion is non-defective; a verification image generating circuit that generates a verification image in which a virtual defective image is placed in a non-defective image; and a threshold value verifier that causes the processor to determine whether the inspection object portion is non-defective or defective by using the verification image, in place of the image taken by the imaging device, and to verify the luminance threshold value based on a determination result by the processor.

The invention relates to a method and a production line (1) for producing pouches (2). The product line (1) comprises a supply unit (3), a deformation unit (4), a dosing unit (5), a sealing unit (6) and a cutting unit (7).

A flexible structure inflation device, comprising an inflation assembly configured for insertion between first and second overlapping film layers of a web of material, the inflation assembly having a fluid conduit configured directing a fluid in between the layers to inflate the web; and a cutting member held magnetically in an operative position adjacent the inflation assembly to cut the film passing over the inflation assembly.

An inspection device is used in manufacture of a PTP sheet that comprises a container film including a pocket portion in which a content is placed and a cover film closing the pocket portion. The inspection device includes: an illumination device that emits near infrared light; a light shield that is placed between the illumination device and the container film and prevents the near infrared light from entering the container film; a through hole in the light shield that allows the near infrared light to pass through; a spectroscope that disperses reflected light from the content; an imaging device that images an optical spectrum of the reflected light and obtains spectroscopic image data; and a controller that: obtains spectral data of the content based on the spectroscopic image data; and performs a predetermined inspection with regard to the content based on the spectral data of the content.

An apparatus is provided for cutting holes and slicing through a web of formed, filled and sealed product packages in a thermoforming packaging machine. The apparatus uses a single actuator to move a row of film-cutting punches between extended and retracted positions for cutting holes and corresponding chads in a marginal film area of the web of thermoformed product packages and a cross cut knife to slice through the marginal film area to separate rows of the thermoformed product packages.

A hole cutter is provided for a thermoforming packaging machine. The hole cutter uses a single actuator to move a row of film-cutting punches between extended and retracted positions for cutting holes and corresponding chads in a marginal film area of a web of thermoformed product packages.

An apparatus is provided for cutting holes and slicing through a web of formed, filled and sealed product packages in a thermoforming packaging machine. The apparatus uses a single actuator to move a row of film-cutting punches between extended and retracted positions for cutting holes and corresponding chads in a marginal film area of the web of thermoformed product packages and a cross cut knife to slice through the marginal film area to separate rows of the thermoformed product packages.