Why the sealer and tunnel are specified together
The sleeve sealer creates the film sleeve, but the shrink tunnel determines the finished pack appearance, tightness and stability. If the tunnel aperture, heat, airflow or belt speed is wrong, a good seal can still produce a poor finished pack.
For bottles, cans and trays, the tunnel also needs to handle pack weight and spacing. The pack should remain stable from infeed through discharge without excessive operator intervention.
Automatic operation requirements
Automatic sleeve sealing needs consistent product presentation. The infeed must deliver the pack in a controlled position so the sealing jaw and film path can repeat accurately. Any change in product spacing or pack shape affects sealing and tunnel performance.
A fully automatic route is most suitable where production runs are repeated and where the pack data is consistent enough to justify conveyors, collation and shrink tunnel integration.
Quote details for this machine route
Lancing will normally need the product dimensions, pack count, pack weight, film type, target output and available line space. If the system has to connect to upstream or downstream equipment, include heights, speeds and control expectations.
The quote can then consider whether the application needs straight-through inline handling, side feed collation or a different sleeve wrapping arrangement.
Quote route and specification checklist
| Specification area | Details to confirm |
|---|---|
| Sealer | Jaw width, pack length, film width and product guides. |
| Tunnel | Aperture, chamber length, airflow, temperature and belt type. |
| Conveyors | Infeed spacing, discharge height, transfer points and line control. |
| Output | Target packs per minute for the actual pack size. |