Paramount Packaging is the exclusive UK and Ireland supplier of Fuji Machinery Co. flow wrapping and tray wrapping systems. The company delivers horizontal and vertical packaging solutions across food, non-food, pharmaceutical, and medical device sectors.

On a high-speed flow wrapping line packaging nutritional cereal bars, premature wear was identified on the sealing jaws. The components were exhibiting significant degradation after only a few months in service, compared to the typical expected service life of >24 months.

The application utilised a paper-based film with an internal lining. While normally considered straightforward to seal thermally, this specific material demonstrated unusually high resistance to compression during jaw closure. Combined with elevated machine speeds, the result was accelerated abrasive wear at the sealing interface.

This represented the first recorded instance within Paramount’s installed base where packaging film characteristics generated sufficient abrasion to erode sealing jaws at this rate. A materials and surface engineering review was therefore required.

Engineering Collaboration & Development

Paramount Packaging engaged Perfect Seal, a long-standing sealing jaw manufacturing partner, to investigate and resolve the issue. Perfect Seal’s technical division initiated a materials and treatment review to increase wear resistance without compromising machinability or dimensional accuracy.

Perfect Seal consulted Wallwork Cambridge UK, part of the Wallwork Group, specialists in hard coatings, heat treatment, and vacuum brazing. Previous collaborations between the companies had focused on performance optimisation of sealing jaws through controlled heat treatment processes.

Paramount Packaging has worked closely with Perfect Seal for over a decade. Incorporating sealing jaws manufactured by Perfect Seal into high-performance flow wrapping lines for customers around the UK and Ireland. The two companies have often collaborated with end-users and third parties to develop innovative solutions for production machinery. Perfect Seal’s technical division set out to find a solution capable of delivering the performance and longevity required for this application.

Perfect Seal consulted with Wallwork Cambridge UK, part of the Wallwork Group of companies specialising in hard coatings, heat treatment and vacuum brazing. Wallwork Cambridge is the specialist coatings division of the Group; Perfect Seal has worked closely with Wallwork on many occasions for heat treatment projects to optimise performance for sealing jaws.

Materials & Heat Treatment Strategy

Following application assessment, Wallwork recommended a revised manufacturing and treatment route:

1. Material Selection – Adoption of a higher-hardness alloy capable of withstanding increased abrasive loading, while retaining machinability.

2. Staged Machining Process – Completion of approximately 75% of machining operations prior to solution treatment.

3. Solution Treatment – High-temperature processing to relieve work hardening induced during initial machining.

4. Final Machining – Completion of precision features and sealing geometries post-treatment.

5. H900 Heat Treatment – Final ageing to H900 condition to achieve high hardness and structural stability.

6. Surface Coating Application – Application of a wear-resistant coating to further enhance abrasion resistance and extend operational life.

The combination of increased substrate hardness and advanced surface coating created a significantly more robust sealing interface suited to high-speed, high-friction operating conditions.

Operational Outcome

The upgraded sealing jaws were installed in February 2021. Since commissioning, the flow wrapping line has operated continuously without recurrence of the excessive wear previously observed.

The treatment route is considered an innovative application within sealing jaw manufacture, specifically developed to improve component longevity in demanding, high-speed flow wrapping environments involving abrasive packaging substrates.