Pick and handle flimsy bags with safe grip

As packaging bags become thinner and flimsier, the more care is needed in handling them. A new option for gripping these bags is the BGX suction. This suction is suitable for applications in e-commerce, fast moving consumer goods (FMCG), secondary food picking, and other industries where bags are handled.

Bags especially made of thin plastic film such as those used for salad leaves and fresh herbs, or the aluminium foil bags used for crisps and other snacks are flimsy and often just as fragile as their contents. New biodegradable and recyclable materials are becoming increasingly popular, and with it the challenges of bag handling increase.

The thinner the bags become, the easier they can be sucked into and damaged by the suction cup’s grip. To avoid any damage to the bag or indeed to their contents, the lip of the suction cup needs to provide outstanding sealing capability even at low vacuum levels.

Piab’s new BGX suction cup handles a package of vegetables; on right,  the new BGX suction cup family for thin bags

Piab’s new BGX bag handling suction cup has been specially developed to be the perfect bag picker for flimsy and oversized bags addressing the challenges presented by this application. The lip of the bag cup is designed with outstanding sealing capability also at low vacuum level.

Produced as a one-piece suction cup with two bellows, the suction cup will easily pick bags of different heights with a safe and stable hold of the product in the fast/semi-fast robot applications.

The BGX suction cups are made of FDA & EU approved blue silicone for direct contact with food and are suitable for both high and low temperature applications. The suction cup can be configured by choosing between 3 sizes of the lip diameters 34, 41, and 48 mm and 6 different aluminium push-in fittings designed to attach safely to the robust neck of the cups.

Bag picker benefits:

• Ideal for picking flimsy bags
• Thin lip seals outstandingly at low vacuum level
• One piece suction cup provides safe and stable hold of the product in fast/semi-fast      robot applications
• Multi bellow design compensates for height differences and uneven surfaces
• FDA and EU approved silicone material for direct food contact
• Suitable for both high and low temperature applications
• Configurable for individual applications in e-commerce, FMCG, secondary food picking, fashion, and other industries

Piab’s solutions for automated bag handling rely on the company’s long-standing expertise in vacuum and ejector technology as well as the use of our specialised suction cups. With over 20 years’ experience in developing bag handling suction cups, we still constantly challenge ourselves to create new cups for increasingly targeted applications supporting your success.