In response to a request from UK medical swab maker Vernon Carus, Fuji Machinery from Japan have designed a new type of end seal unit for their FW 3410 inverted type flow wrapper.

The swabs made by Vernon Carus go through a rigorous sterilisation process before leaving the mill in Preston, Lancashire. For this process to work effectively they have to be wrapped in a woven polyester material. Hand wrapping with this material is not practical and traditional flow wrap machines can produce an effect called ‘linting’.

Linting is when tiny unattached micro fibres remain along the cut edges of the wrapping material. Research has shown that micro fibres floating in an operating theatre can transport infection. Removing them from the Vernon Carus packs that are opened in a theatre is essential.

Faced with this problem the Fuji design team has come up with a very special sealing and cutting system that has no cutting blade. This new system works by heat and pressure to weld and separate the woven Polyester in one motion. In this way ‘linting’ is avoided.

Fuji believe their new ‘Melt Cut’ system has potential in a wide range of industries and have made it available as an option of their full range of horizontal and vertical wrappers. Fuji Machinery are represented in the UK and Ireland by Paramount Packaging Systems.