Recommended configuration
Flow wrap packaging machine SAP-600 Top 100 three-servo
Single item, or tray and punnet
Cucumbers, peppers, herbs, tray-packed vegetables
Clear or printed, perforated where the produce needs to breathe
Packs 180–450 mm long and 100–270 mm wide, produce up to 100 mm high
Rated 20–60 packs/min, set by produce size and film
About our modelModel codes shown are machines we have built or configured for previous projects. Your machine is specified and built to suit your product, output and pack format — not supplied off the shelf.
Product behaviour
Fresh produce is still alive when it is packed, and that drives every decision on the line.
Produce keeps respiring after harvest, giving off moisture and heat inside the pack. A sealed film with no ventilation traps that moisture, and condensation on the inside of the pack is the first thing a retail buyer sees. Film choice and perforation pattern matter more here than on almost any other product.
Produce is also inconsistent in a way manufactured goods are not. Cucumbers vary in length and diameter within the same crate, peppers vary in shape, and a tray of tomatoes is a different pack again. The machine has to hold a consistent seal across that variation.
And it marks easily. Pressure a biscuit would shrug off will bruise a pepper or a tomato, so handling and film tension are set gentler than on a dry-goods line.
Recommendation
Fresh produce is packed on a flow wrap machine in a produce configuration, so a whole cucumber or a filled tray leaves the machine as one sealed pack.
Flow wrapping suits produce because the pack forms around the product rather than the product being dropped into a pre-made bag. Nothing is tipped, poured or shaken, which is what protects a soft-skinned item.
The same machine handles single items and trays. What changes between them is the infeed and the film width, not the machine.
The flow wrapper we built for a pepper packer runs three servo drives on our widest frame. Pack length is set on the touch screen, so moving to a different size of produce is a settings change rather than a mechanical one.
Filling system
Produce is carried into the film tube on an infeed conveyor, spaced so each item or tray enters on its own. Spacing is what decides pack length and seal position, so consistent presentation at the infeed matters more than machine speed.
A photocell watches the infeed of a produce flow wrapper. The machine wraps when produce is present and stops when there is none, so a gap in hand-loaded produce does not waste film. Colour-mark tracking keeps each cut in register with printed film.
Unlike a powder or granule line, there is no doser on a produce flow wrapper. The product is already formed, already weighed or graded upstream, and the machine is wrapping rather than filling.
Pack formats
Two formats cover most produce packed in South Africa.
Whole cucumbers and courgettes are wrapped individually in a close, clear film. The pack is close-fitting, so the produce is what the shopper sees rather than the packaging.
Peppers, tomatoes, mixed vegetables and herbs are loaded onto a tray or into a punnet upstream, and the flow wrapper seals the whole tray in film.
Both run on the same machine. The flow wrapper we built for a pepper line takes packs 180 to 450 mm long and 100 to 270 mm wide, with produce up to 100 mm high, or 120 mm on a customised build. Pack sizes for your own formats are confirmed at quotation against your produce.
Output
The flow wrapper on our pepper line is rated at 20 to 60 packs a minute. Where a fresh produce line sits in that range depends on the size of the produce and the film it runs.
Longer packs run slower than short ones, and the infeed sets the real pace: a flow wrapper can only wrap produce as fast as it is presented. The output figure for your line is confirmed on a trial with your own produce.
Produce range
Whole cucumbers are wrapped individually in a close, clear film that follows the shape of the product. The wrap holds moisture in the skin and keeps the cucumber clean through handling and transport, and because the film is clear the produce is what the shopper sees rather than the packaging.
Length and diameter vary within the same crate, so the seal position is set to the range you actually pack rather than to a single size. Cucumbers are the most commonly flow wrapped produce line in South Africa, and the pack is what most retailers now expect on shelf.
Vegetables
A vegetable wrapping machine is the same flow wrapper set up for the product in front of it. What changes between vegetable lines is the infeed, the film width and the pack length, not the machine.
Peppers are packed either as single items or loaded onto a tray and sealed as a unit. They mark easily, so film tension and handling are set gentler than on a dry-goods line. This is the produce line we have supplied and installed in South Africa.
Tomatoes, baby vegetables and mixed vegetable packs are loaded onto a tray or into a punnet upstream, and the wrapper seals the whole tray in film. A tray pack is a different job to a single item: the machine is wrapping a fixed shape rather than a variable one, which makes the seal more consistent but sets the pack length to the tray.
Herbs and leafy greens go into small retail packs. They are the most sensitive produce to pack, because they wilt quickly and bruise under almost any pressure, so the film and the perforation pattern do most of the work in holding condition.
Carrots, baby marrows and mushrooms run the same way, as singles where the product holds its shape or on trays where it does not. Firm fruit can be wrapped on the same machine. Soft or irregular fruit is assessed at trial, because the pack has to hold the product without pressing on it.
film
Film choice matters more on produce than on almost any other product, because the product is still alive when it is sealed.
Perforations let the moisture that respiring produce gives off escape from the sealed pack, so condensation does not build up on the inside while the pack still holds its shape.
The pattern depends on the produce and how long the pack has to hold condition. A cucumber and a punnet of herbs do not breathe at the same rate, so the same film will not suit both. This is settled at trial against your own produce rather than specified from a chart. We do not supply film, but we can recommend suppliers who can provide the perforation your trial settles on.
Produce is usually packed in clear film so the product sells itself, with branding, barcodes and country-of-origin printed on the film where the retailer requires it.
Comparison
Most produce packers who move to a flow wrap machine are coming off hand wrapping.
Cling film is applied by hand, so the speed and the appearance of every pack depend on the operator and on how long they have been on shift. Packs vary, film is wasted on over-wrapping, and every item is handled directly. A flow wrap machine produces the same pack every time, at a consistent seal, with no hand contact with the produce.
Shrink wrapping passes the product through a heat tunnel to draw the film tight. For most fresh produce we recommend flow wrapping instead, because the heat can affect the product. Shrink wrapping can still work where the produce sits on a tray and passes through the tunnel in a few seconds, as it does on a tomato line we commissioned on an L-bar sealer and shrink tunnel. Whether your produce can take the heat is confirmed on a trial with your own product.
A pre-made bag has to be opened, filled and sealed, and the bag size is fixed. A flow wrapper forms the pack around whatever is on the conveyor, so one machine covers a range of product sizes without changing bags.
Experience
We built and installed a three-servo flow wrap machine for a pepper packer in South Africa, and it has been running on their line for more than a year.
We also commissioned a shrink wrap line for a tomato packer. The tomatoes sit on a tray and pass through the shrink tunnel in a few seconds, so the heat does not affect them. The setup was proven on a trial with the customer’s own tomatoes before they bought, and the line has been running for more than a year. Read the tomato shrink wrap case study.
We also run customer product trials on our own flow wrap machine before anyone commits to a line. Send us a crate of your produce and we will wrap it, so you can see the pack, the seal and the film behaviour on your actual product rather than on a sample of ours.
Quotation
A produce line is quoted to configuration, so we need six things about your produce before we can price anything.
What you are packing, and whether it goes in as a single item or on a tray
The size range of the product, smallest to largest, since that sets the film width and the seal position
Target output per hour, and your peak-season volume
Whether you already have film, and whether it is perforated
How produce reaches the machine, from grading, weighing or manual tray loading
Site power, air supply and the floor space available. For scale, the flow wrapper on our pepper line is about 4 m long and 1 m wide.
Send a sample of your produce with the enquiry and we will trial it on the machine.
Related pages
Fresh produce is wrapped rather than filled, so it sits with the flow wrap machine rather than under a powder or granule form hub.
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Send us a crate of your cucumbers, peppers or trays and we will run them on our flow wrap machine, so you can see the pack and the seal on your own produce before you commit.
Questions
Yes. Single items and trays run on the same flow wrap machine. What changes between them is the infeed and the film width, not the machine, so one line can cover both provided the products are presented to the infeed consistently.
Produce keeps respiring after it is packed, so the film usually needs perforations to let moisture escape. Without them, condensation forms on the inside of the pack. The perforation pattern depends on the produce and how long it has to hold, and is confirmed against your own product at trial.
Cling film is applied by hand, so the speed and the appearance of every pack depend on the operator. A flow wrap machine produces the same pack every time, with a consistent seal and no hand contact with the produce, which also helps on hygiene.
It helps, but the film does the work rather than the machine. A sealed pack limits moisture loss and keeps the produce clean in transit. With the right perforation it lets the product breathe while still holding its shape on shelf.
Yes, within the machine’s size range. Firm fruit wraps the same way as firm vegetables, as a single item or on a tray. Soft or irregular fruit is assessed at trial, because the pack has to hold the product without pressing on it. Send a sample and we will run it.
Yes. A flow wrapper wraps rather than fills, so the produce arrives already graded, counted or tray-loaded from upstream. How it reaches the infeed, whether from a grader, a weigher or manual tray loading, is one of the things we need to know to quote the line, because it decides how the product is presented to the machine.
