Before the purchase, he wrote an investigational protocol to evaluate switching from a jaw sealer to the band sealer. The protocol involved evaluating how the equipment worked with a chosen packaging material by performing a range study to determine which parameters created an acceptable seal. The BM 2020 Medical Blister Machine from Belco Packaging is designed for use with medical trays. During the range study, McLeod found that he had to adjust the machine's heater bars and compression rollers to ensure that they would accommodate the material's thickness and that the package, when undergoing burst testing, reads well above the determined minimum burst allowance. McLeod admits that the evaluation process is time-consuming but feels it is definitely worth it.
Packaging engineers are well advised to adopt such an attitude.
Neither vague regulations nor a lack of a cookbook method should deter any engineer from developing an adequate system to validate heat sealers. By keeping abreast of regulatory changes and new guidance documents and by asking suppliers and consultants for assistance, engineers should be able to create a system that works consistently and reliably.