LINPAC, a fresh food packaging supplier, has won the Factory of the Year Award for the category of 'Most Improved Factory' at its St Helen's facility. The factory was recognized for its continuous focus on enhancing the environmental performance of its products and services. The recent mechanical refurbishment program at LINPAC St Helens and other LINPAC Group factories is aimed at reducing the energy costs of expanded polystyrene (EPS) packaging to world-class levels, thereby further reducing the carbon footprint of its products. 
     LINPAC, which produces a wide range of packaging solutions for the catering and service industry in St. Helens, UK, has won the Best Factory Award for the greatest improvement. The HotPac and EPS tray series are lightweight and sturdy, capable of maintaining food temperature, controlling portion sizes, and arely light; in fact, 98% of a package is air. Despite this, LINPAC is not standing still. The company is focused on enhancing the environmental performance of all its product lines and has managed to improve the EPS extrusion and thermoforming processes, further reducing the carbon footprint of its production process. 
     Change: From Conventional Heating to Infrared Heating
     Reduce the carbon footprint of the production process by upgrading selected thermoforming product lines from conventional heating systems to Ceramicx infrared heating systems. Alan Davey, Innovation Director of LINPAC, said: "Process innovation is as important to us as product innovation. EPS packaging is a completely tailor-made packaging solution, and we are delighted that LINPAC can further reduce its environmental impact through these energy-saving technologies." 
    Infrared (IR) radiation is sometimes described as "sunlight without the light". If properly applied for heating, it can significantly enhance process accuracy and save energy. To develop and validate a new IR heating system, extensive research was conducted before and during the upgrade process at St Helens. This research was commissioned by IR heating system supplier Ceramicx and carried out by Dr Robin Kent of Tangram Technology at the St Helens factory, who measured the detailed differences in heat and energy performance between two identical thermoforming lines.
     The Ceramicx optimised IR system was compared with the existing IR thermoforming line using the same moulds, products and cycle times. Both LINPAC lines manufacture the same EPS packaging products for the food industry.
     The tests showed that the average power consumption of the Ceramicx IR heating system dropped from 56.16kW to 32.85kW, representing a 41.6% reduction in energy consumption. Direct comparison data between the two oven systems was also obtained. Due to the removal of the machine's base load, the measured energy savings of the Ceramicx IR system were 45.8%.