Hill Biscuits Ltd, established in 1855, employs approximately 350 personnel and operates high-volume biscuit manufacturing lines producing products such as custard creams, bourbons, digestives, and fruit shortcake.

The facility is certified to Grade AA standard, reflecting compliance with stringent food safety, quality assurance, and operational control requirements. Ongoing capital investment is directed toward process optimisation, equipment upgrades, and manufacturing efficiency to maintain consistent product quality and alignment with industry best practices.

Engineering Requirement

A production improvement initiative identified the need to increase throughput on a specific packaging line while simultaneously improving seal quality and cut definition.

For biscuit packaging, seal integrity is critical to prevent air ingress and maintain product freshness. In addition, the visual quality of the seal and crimp profile is an important factor in finished product presentation.

The existing sealing system presented limitations in both operating speed and seal/cut consistency. Hill Biscuits engaged Perfect Seal to evaluate potential design modifications within the constraints of the installed equipment. Previous collaboration between the two organisations provided a strong baseline understanding of the machine architecture and prior enhancements.

Technical Solution

A detailed assessment of the existing machine was conducted, including evaluation of:

• Mechanical clearances
• Drive and shaft capacities
• Operating speeds and load conditions

Based on this analysis, a redesign of key components was proposed. This included the manufacture of bespoke shafts and sealing jaw assemblies configured to increase throughput and improve sealing performance.

The primary modification involved increasing sealing capacity by integrating an additional set of sealing jaws, effectively doubling the cut and crimp operations per cycle and thereby increasing production speed.

The sealing jaws were engineered with a revised profile tailored to the packaging material. The application required a fin seal configuration, where the inner film surfaces are sealed and folded. This introduced additional material thickness at the sealing interface, necessitating:

• Modified jaw geometry
• Optimised pressure distribution
• Controlled heat transfer characteristics

The redesigned components were manufactured to ensure compatibility with the existing system while maintaining structural integrity under increased operational loads.

Outcome

The project was completed within a lead time of less than four weeks from initial assessment to installation.

The upgraded system delivered:

• Increased production throughput (effectively doubled at the sealing stage)
• Improved seal integrity and consistency
• Enhanced aesthetic quality of the seal and crimp

“The project was facilitated by the Perfect Seals team’s existing understanding of our machinery and processes,” confirmed Raoof Rashid for Hill Biscuits. “We are very satisfied with the end result, which was achieved on time and to budget with minimal disruption to production.”