Stretch wrapper is worth its salt: the demanding environment of a salt packaging line posed...

They don't call them salt mines for nothing.

The term "salt mine" became synonymous with "tough job" for a good reason. Salt mines are a very demanding environment, for man or machine. So when the Morton Salt mine in Grand Saline, Texas, needed a new stretch wrapper for its rock and

The Morton facility packages salt in many forms, from table shakers to "farm blocks" of more than 50 pounds. The packages include boxes, paper and film bags, and more. Customers include Wal-Mart, grocery distributors, local farm stores and others, with some shipments going overseas. Mixed pallet loads, especially for grocery stores, are common.

The facility needed a new stretch wrapper because the old one simply wore out after 17 years, and parts were no longer available. Morton was able to get a new MA-55 rotary tower stretch wrapper from Orion Packaging Systems installed and operational in seven days.

Morton worked through Motion Industries, a service provider that has had a relationship with Orion for more than 15 years. In conjunction with distributor Associated Packaging, Motion Industries helped customize the stretch wrapper and expedite its installation.

"It all came together really quickly," says plant supervisor Mike Rogers. "It's just so simple when you look at it. It just seems too simple to work."

Finding the right packaging equipment for the Morton facility was anything but simple. It's a demanding environment, for several reasons.

The first is the humidity of the internal environment. "Our warehouse is very humid, sopping wet with condensation," Rogers says. "The simplicity of the Orion and the rotary [parts] on top is that the film tail doesn't get all caught up. There is no turntable, so a bearing won't wear out. Cleanup is much easier. The few parts you do have are right where you can get to them. There is no need to keep a lot of parts on hand."

The variety of packages filled at Grand Saline demands flexibility from much of the packaging machinery including the stretch wrapper. The plant needed a wrapper that could adjust automatically. The Orion model does this with a photoeye that reads the load's size and shape.

Salt is a heavy product, so Motion Industries furnished the Orion stretch wrapper with a heavy-duty roller conveyor that used a four-foot-wide power mesh chain to move the rollers. Other customized features include special anti-corrosion paint, specialized motors and gears, and extra electrical guarding.

The reduced maintenance is the biggest immediate advantage of the Orion equipment, Rogers says.

"Since we need no mechanics around to work on the Orion wrapper, time is freed up to do other jobs," he says. "it's a dream come true for me with the headaches I used to have. It frees me up to do other things-it has really been a blessing. I feel very comfortable because I don't think Orion would offer a 10-year warrant, if they weren't sure of themselves."

For more information

Orion Packaging Systems

800-333-6556; www.ononpackaging.com

IN A NUTSHELL

   Goal: Overcome moisture, high
         weight, other challenges

    How: Stretch wrapper with
         simplified, customized design

Results: High reliability, low
         maintenance