Sealing machines for Udyog Nagar and Peeragarhi

The polybag, and the seal that has to hold it

A polybag seal has one job: to stay closed through folding, stacking, a carton, a journey and a shop's handling. It fails at the ends, not in the middle.

The usual cause is a seal made across a bag that was not flat. A crease at the end of the seal line leaves a channel, and a channel lets dust and damp in. In a finished garment that is a soiled-goods rejection at inspection, not at your gate.

An impulse sealer heats only while the bar is closed, which suits intermittent work and a bench where the operator is also folding. It is the ordinary machine of this trade for a reason.

Choose it by the widest bag you actually run, then add a little. A sealer that is narrow for the bag guarantees a two-pass seal, and a two-pass seal has a weak point in the middle by definition.

Piece work, and the machine that has to keep up

When people are paid by the piece, any machine that slows them down gets worked around. That is not indiscipline; it is arithmetic.

So the questions worth asking are practical ones. How long does the bar take to be ready again? Can the operator load the next bag while it cools? Is there anything the operator has to hold or wait for?

An element that needs frequent replacement is the real cost here, not the purchase price. Ask what the element and the PTFE tape cost and how quickly they can be changed, because on a busy bench they are changed often.

Keep spares on the shelf. A sealer waiting for an element is a bench of people waiting with it.

Cartons at the end of the bench

Bagged garments go into cartons, and the carton stage in these units is usually the least organised part of the floor.

Two things pay for themselves immediately: a fixed carton size for each customer, and a strap on the outer. The fixed size means stacking is predictable; the strap means the carton keeps its shape in a transport godown.

Where the buyer specifies a shipper size, use it exactly. A carton half an inch over the specification is the one that will not fit their pallet pattern, and the argument arrives after the goods do.

A low table top strapping machine suits this bench because a light carton slides onto it rather than being lifted.

Buying a bench machine sensibly

A bench sealer is a small purchase, and it is bought badly more often than any other machine on this site — usually on price, from whoever is nearest, without asking what happens when the element goes.

Ask three questions: the widest bag it will take, the price and availability of the element and PTFE tape, and who repairs it. If any of the three has no clear answer, keep looking.

A bench machine travels as ordinary freight. Where you want to see one work first, bring your own bag and film.