Next-Generation TFX Thermoformer Sets New Benchmark in Speed and Flexibility for High-Volume Producers

TAUNTON, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan 13, 2026--

Harpak-ULMA today announced the North American release of the ULMA TFX thermoformer, a next‑generation smart platform engineered to help food, medical and consumer packaged goods producers achieve higher throughput, enhanced package quality, and stronger sustainability performance. The TFX boasts multiple performance-enhancing innovations designed to reduce cycle time, stabilize process variation, and support the use of recyclable packaging materials.

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ULMA designed its new range of high-performance TFX thermoformers to tackle some of today’s most demanding food and medical packaging challenges — including production efficiency, sustainability, digitalization, and process repeatability. The TFX delivers synchronized high-speed performance, superior packaging quality, rapid error-proofed changeovers, intuitive operation, sustainable film, optimized materials usage, and smart, data-driven production management. It was engineered from the ground up to maximize efficiency, uptime, and environmental responsibility across modern packaging lines.

The TFX line leverages optimized motion coordination and a redesigned vacuum system that shortens evacuation time — enabling faster, more predictable cycles for high-volume applications that can accelerate vacuum performance by up to 20 percent. These improvements are especially significant for producers packaging standardized “Brick-Packs,” a format rapidly expanding across major retailers. Packaged meat bricks require precise forming, rapid evacuation, and repeatable sealing to maintain their rigid geometry and minimize purge — making cycle-time stability and vacuum efficiency critical drivers of throughput and package integrity.

The TFX also integrates ULMA’s advanced forming (Better Form X TM ) and sealing (Better Seal X TM) technologies, making it capable of running thinner base films without sacrificing package strength or integrity. This is particularly valuable for meat-brick applications, which rely on deep, dimensionally consistent forming and robust seals to maintain shape. Running thinner, recyclable materials without compromising rigidity allows processors to reduce plastic consumption while maintaining the visual appeal and durability expected by retailers and club store shoppers. This capability supports processors seeking reductions in plastic consumption and improved sustainability metrics.

Other advanced capabilities include automated film alignment, zone-specific heating, and constant-atmosphere sealing controls — features designed to improve first-pass yield and reduce rework. In meat-brick production, even minor film wander, uneven heating, or seal variation can result in notable deformation or purge leakage. Automated alignment and precision heating help ensure every brick maintains its crisp, consistent profile — essential for stacking, case packing, and warehouse-club merchandising. On-board tools such as RFID format verification, and recipe-driven digital control accelerate changeovers while reducing operator error.

Centralized recipe control allows operators to auto-adjust settings based on production orders, while built-in monitoring tools track usage of film, electricity, air, and gas by shift or batch. At the end of each run, the system generates a detailed PDF report, giving manufacturers a comprehensive view of production performance. This enables producers to pinpoint waste, validate sustainability improvements, and support continuous improvement initiatives. For meat-brick processors running extremely high volumes with tight retail cost-to-produce pressures, such insights help quantify the financial benefits of precision forming, reduced vacuum times, and lower material use — giving operations teams clear visibility into the true cost of each packaged unit. These digital records also support documentation requirements common in medical manufacturing, providing traceable, repeatable production data that can be leveraged during process validation and audit. This unique combination of innovative technologies delivers a thermoforming platform engineered for a new era of packaging automation and performance — one that helps processors unlock hidden line capacity, enhance product quality, and achieve more sustainable operations.

For more information, https://www.harpak-ulma.com/equipment/tfx-thermoformer/ or call (508) 884-2500. Experience a live demonstration at one of Harpak-ULMA's Customer Experience Centers in Boston, Atlanta, or Costa Mesa, Calif. Call (508) 884-2500 to make arrangements.

About Harpak-ULMA
Harpak-ULMA Packaging is the North American arm of ULMA, a $1B industry leader in complete automated packaging line solutions for food, medical, and industrial products. Harpak-ULMA provides smart, connected packaging systems including tray sealing, thermoforming, horizontal ffs, vertical ffs, flow wrapping, multihead weighing, wet and dry filling systems, robotic loading and unloading systems, metal detection, x-ray, checkweighing, labeling, vision inspection, cartoning, sleeving, case packing, and palletizing. These systems form the backbone of complete, integrated lines that reduce customers’ total cost of ownership, address the challenges of an aging, scarce workforce, and improve maintenance and operations via Harpak-ULMA’s extensive service offerings and 24/7 support, and competitive parts sourcing with same-day shipping. In addition, Harpak-ULMA represents G. Mondini tray sealers and Cabinplant’s advanced weighing systems and complementary processing solutions in the United States and Canada. Since joining the Rockwell Automation Partner Network in 2018, Harpak-ULMA has leveraged Rockwell’s controls and information platforms to deliver greater efficiency, uptime, throughput, and package quality — while reducing waste.

Harpak-ULMA Packaging introduces its new range of high-performance TFX thermoformers, a packaging solution designed to tackle today’s challenges in the food industry with a strong focus on production efficiency, sustainability, and digitalization. It will be exhibited live at IPPE 2026, delivering next-generation performance focused on efficiency, sustainability, and digitalization.

NEW YORK (AP) — A New York City Council employee was arrested in the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown, enraging city officials and drawing protesters Tuesday to the Manhattan detention center where he was being held.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said Rafael Andres Rubio Bohorquez had long overstayed a tourist visa, had once been arrested for assault, and “had no legal right to be in the United States.”

City Council Speaker Julie Menin disputed that, telling reporters that Rubio Bohorquez, a data analyst for the city legislative body, was legally authorized to work in the U.S. until October.

Menin, a Democrat, said the council employee signed a document as part of his employment confirming that he had never been arrested and cleared the standard background check conducted for all applicants.

The New York Immigration Coalition and New York Legal Assistance Group filed a petition after Rubio Bohorquez's arrest Monday asking a court to order his release, Menin and Rep. Dan Goldman, D-N.Y., said in a statement.

ICE confirmed Rubio Bohorquez’s name. Menin and Goldman referred to him only as a council employee. She said she was doing so to protect his identity.

“We are doing everything we can to secure his immediate release,” Menin said at a Monday evening news conference. She decried the arrest as “egregious government overreach.”

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, a Democrat, said he was “outraged” by what he called “an assault on our democracy, on our city, and our values.”

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, also a Democrat, said: “This is exactly what happens when immigration enforcement is weaponized.” Detaining people during routine appearances “doesn’t make us safer. It erodes trust, spreads fear, and violates basic principles of fairness,” she said.

Menin said officials were attempting to reach Rubio Bohorquez’s family and obtain contact information for his immigration lawyer.

Rubio Bohorquez, originally from Venezuela, was detained at an immigration appointment in Bethpage, on Long Island, authorities said. Menin called it a regular check-in that “quickly went awry.”

“This staffer, who chose to work for the city and contribute his expertise to the community, did everything right by appearing at a scheduled interview, and yet ICE unlawfully detained him,” Lisa Rivera, the president and CEO of New York Legal Assistance Group, said in a statement.

Rivera said the organization represents dozens of people who have been wrongfully detained by ICE and hundreds who are following immigration procedures in hopes of staying in the U.S.

According to ICE, Rubio Bohorquez entered the U.S. in 2017 on a B2 tourist visa and was required to leave the country by Oct. 22, 2017. He has been employed by the City Council for about a year, Menin said. His position pays about $129,315 per year, according to city payroll data.

“He had no work authorization,” ICE said in a statement confirming Rubio Bohorquez’s arrest. The agency, part of the Department of Homeland Security, said that under Secretary Kristi Noem “criminal illegal aliens are not welcome in the United States. If you come to our country illegally and break our law, we will find you and we will arrest you.”

Several dozen people protested Tuesday outside the Greater New York Federal Building, where Rubio Bohorquez was being held. Some carried signs that said “Abolish ICE” and “No Human Is Illegal.”

Disputes over an immigrant’s work authorization have arisen before, in part because many employers rely on a robust but flawed government system called E-Verify. The tool compares information entered by an employer from an employee’s documents with records available to Homeland Security and the Social Security Administration.

Experts say the system is generally accurate in terms of matching documents, but it doesn’t automatically notify an employer if an employee’s right to work is revoked after it has already been verified.

A 2021 Inspector General review concluded that until the government addresses E-Verify’s shortcomings, “it cannot ensure the system provides accurate employment eligibility results.”

Matthew Malloy, Executive Board Member with the Association of Legislative Employees, speaks during a news conference outside Greater New York Federal Building, Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)

Alexa Avilés, New York City Council member, speaks during a news conference outside Greater New York Federal Building, Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)

Chi Ossé, New York City Council member, speaks during a news conference outside Greater New York Federal Building, Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)

Carlos Calzadilla, President of Brooklyn Young Democrats, speaks during a news conference outside Greater New York Federal Building, Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)

People raise signs during a news conference outside Greater New York Federal Building, Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)