Why high-quality co-packing machine blades are important

Before we tell you about the five signs to look for, we want to emphasise why it’s important that you not only use high-quality co-packing machine blades, but also that you replace them when necessary.

One of the biggest challenges facing contract packaging companies is downtime.

Whilst much of this downtime is attributable to things like changeovers to new bags or types of packaging, another major reason is issues with machine blades. These machine blade issues are often down to the blades being of poor quality or simply being past their useful service life.

By ensuring that your packaging machines are fitted with new, high-quality machine blades on a regular basis, you can reduce downtime and thereby improve the profitability of your co-packing operations.

Five signs you need to replace your machine knives for co-packing

As you can see, it really is important that you replace your machine blades when required. They may only be a small part of your overall co-packing operations, but when they’re not working at their best, they can have a big impact on the overall efficiency of your operations.

So, with that in mind, below are the five signs that it’s time to replace your machine blades for co-packing:

1. You’re experiencing a slower rate of production

In the co-packaging industry, speed is king. The faster you can package items, the happier your clients will be.

But, if your machine blades are past their best, you may start to experience a slower rate of production.

This is predominantly due to the machine blades no longer providing the level of cutting performance they used to when they were new.

Whilst slower production is certainly a problem, it can also lead to worse problems including bottlenecks, back-ups and even complete halts in production – and no co-packing company wants that.

Note – it’s important to keep a note of production speed so that you can effectively spot slowdowns as soon as they occur.

2. You’re experiencing more downtime

This may seem like an obvious point, but machine blades that are past their best can be the cause of packaging machinery downtime.

The reasons for this include poor cutting performance, the blades no longer fitting as well, and complete failure to cut.

When these things occur, it leads to inevitable bouts of troubleshooting and ad-hoc maintenance which can significantly reduce the efficiency of your packaging operations.

3. Diminished cut quality

Packaging plays a crucially important role in providing protection, safety, usability and attractive looks to all kinds of products.

As such, packaging needs to be manufactured to high tolerances, with little to no room for poorly cut packaging materials.

If you find that your machinery is no longer cutting packaging to tight tolerances then it’s likely that a worn-out machine blade is to blame.

In this instance, it’s important that you replace the guilty machine blade(s) as soon as possible.

4. Damage to packaging materials

Related to the point above, should you find that your packaging materials are being torn, snagged or generally damaged during the packaging process, then it’s likely that a worn-out machine blade is to blame.

Remember, a machine blade may still be able to cut, even when it’s past its best, but the chances of it causing damage to the material being cut will increase.

5. Your machine blades fail a visual inspection

This may seem like another obvious point, but you’d be surprised how often people fail to give their machine blades a thorough visual inspection.

When inspecting your machine blades there are a number of things you should look for, including:

• Worn out, chipped or damaged teeth or chipped carbide tips.
• The rounding off of the blade edge.
• The buildup of pitch on the sides or teeth of the blade.
• Wear past the wear line (if the blade has one).

It can also be helpful to compare your machine blades against a blade that you know is sharp and in excellent condition. This provides a visual ‘marker’ against which you can make a proper judgement.

What to look for in machine blades for co-packing

If any of your machine blades are showing one or more of the five signs above, then it’s time to replace them.

But don’t just call up the OEM manufacturer of your packaging machinery. Why? Because, all too often, you’ll end up with expensive machine blades.

The alternative is to source your machine blades from a provider such as MRMK. We’ve made it our mission to produce machine blades for co-packing which are of better quality than OEM blades, but at a fraction of the price.

When you’re buying machine blades for co-packing from a provider such as MRMK, you should look for:

• Industry expertise – a demonstrated expertise in producing machine blades for the co-packing industry.
• Quality – the use of the highest-quality materials and coatings.
• Reliability – the production of blades that last a long time.
• Innovation – the continued development of new and better materials and coatings for co-packing blades.

MRMK: the number one choice for machine knives for co-packing

We hope you’ve found our guide to replacing machine knives for co-packing useful. If you’re on the lookout for replacement machine knives for your co-packing operations, then speak to MRMK today.

Situated in the heart of the global steel industry, we supply over 800 customers across 50+ countries with the highest quality machine blades that help them make their co-packing operations more effective, and more profitable!

Explore MRMK’s range of machine knives for co-packing now

For more machine blade buying guides, advice and information, read the MRMK News and Insights Hub…

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