How fast are Hefestus food packaging systems?
Throughput depends on the format. Form fill & seal runs 100–300 units per minute, tray sealing throughput depends on tray size, product, sealing format and machine configuration, and cup fill & seal 30–120 cups per minute.
Find your machine — six questions about your product, container and target rate, and it narrows the machine class.
How much packaging labour can automation remove?
It depends entirely on what you run today, so the honest answer is to work it out rather than quote you a range. Count the operators on packaging across every shift, including break cover, multiply by your loaded hourly cost, and add what you currently lose to rework and rejected packs. Send us that and the format, and we will tell you what an automated line changes about it.
What is the payback period?
Payback is driven by shift count, your current labour cost per unit, the giveaway in your fills and how much rework the manual line produces. Those vary enough between sites that a single figure would be misleading. Give us yours and we will run the calculation with you and show the workings.
Which certifications do the systems hold?
Ask us for the certification documentation that applies to the machine and the market you sell into, and we will send what we hold. We would rather do that than print a list of acronyms here, because which ones apply depends on the model and your jurisdiction.
How long has Hefestus been building these machines?
Since 1993. The engineering is in Caesarea, Israel, and the US office is in Las Vegas, Nevada. The food range is new to the US market, which is why these pages lead with published specifications rather than American reference sites we do not yet have.
Which models are available?
Form fill & seal: FFS 100, FFS 200 and FFS 300. Tray sealing: Apollo, Athena, Hera, Hera-S and Hera-X. Cup fill & seal: Hermes and Poseidon. Full dimensions and power requirements for each model are on the products page.
Which food products do these systems handle?
Sauces, spreads and condiments; dairy; fresh and protein foods; ready meals and prepared foods; dry foods; produce and pickled foods; and beverages. The industries section lists the specific products in each category.
Can the systems do modified atmosphere packaging?
Yes. The FFS line supports sealing only, or sealing with gas flush. Apollo seals with gas flush or plain and holds a maximum 1% oxygen in the container; Athena runs MAP or vacuum; both cup machines publish a gas flush option at up to 25.5 cycles a minute.
What film can the FFS machines run?
Upper film: flexible film, paper or folio up to 120 microns. Lower film: rigid film, flexible film or folio up to 1000 microns. Forming uses compressed air only with unheated plugs.
What power supply do the machines need?
It varies by model. Hermes, Poseidon and Apollo run on 220V, 25A, 2.0 kW — single phase in Europe, split phase in the USA. Hera runs on 220V / 50 Hz at 3.5 kW; Hera-S on 380V at 1.6 kW and Hera-X on 380V at 2.4 kW, both three phase plus neutral and ground. Athena is 220V at 3.0 kW for MAP and 380V at 6.5 kW for vacuum.
Where is Hefestus based?
Hefestus Technologies Ltd. was founded in 1993 and is headquartered at 4 Shaham Street, Northern Industrial Park, Caesarea, Israel, with a US office at 6280 S Valley View Blvd, Suite 608, Las Vegas, NV 89118.
Does Hefestus build for industries other than food?
Yes. Hefestus is a house of automation and builds for several sectors. This site covers the food lines only; the full group catalogue is at hefestus-tech.com.
Every figure on this page is published on hefestus-tech.com. Questions specific to your line — product viscosity, tray tooling, changeover time — are better answered directly: get in touch.