Project Background & Existing Challenges

OPS sheet offers the high transparency required for fresh food and ready-to-eat packaging, but its brittleness makes the material more demanding to process. The customer’s existing semi-automatic vacuum forming equipment presented several limitations:

• Conventional ceramic heating caused the OPS sheet to whiten at high temperatures, reducing the clarity of the finished containers. It also consumed high power, approximately 35–50 kW/h.
• Forming and cutting were handled as separate processes, resulting in more burrs and a higher reject rate.
• Chain feeding could tear the brittle OPS sheet during transport, generating debris and increasing trim waste.
• Cutting and sorting relied heavily on manual labor, which increased labor costs and limited production capacity.

Project Timeline

Customized Solutions

• In-Mold Heating Board System for OPS: The heating system is configured specifically for OPS processing, providing more uniform heating to address sheet whitening. Additionally, the thermoforming machine power consumption is reduced to approximately 15–20 kW/h.
• Chain-Free Feeding System: The chain-free feeding system reduces the risk of OPS sheet tearing and debris generation during feeding, helping lower trim waste and the reject rate.
• Integrated 3-Station Configuration: The three-station configuration integrates forming, cutting, and stacking into a fully automated process, reducing manual intervention throughout production.

Project Outcome

After the three-station thermoforming machine was put into operation, the transparency and forming quality of the OPS clamshell containers improved. Moreover, forming, cutting, and stacking could now run as a continuous automated process, reducing manual handling and transfers between production steps.

Satisfied with the thermoformer’s actual operating performance, the customer later purchased additional equipment to further expand its OPS food packaging capacity.