Pick-and-pack work stations organize case packing and minimize repetitive motion and other ergonomic issues.
Tackling complexity
Building in flexibility for the long run is extremely difficult for co-manufacturers and private label producers that may have dozens of customers and sometimes hundreds of packaging formats. At times, the biggest challenge involves deciding if — or when — to make an investment to avoid buying a system that ends up sitting around the bakery like unused lawn furniture.
Mr. Kehrli recommended asking some tough questions.
“Do they have a contract and how long is that contract before purchasing the equipment?” he queried. “If it’s unknown, maybe don’t buy the equipment until the business becomes more stable. That’s because a lot of companies may be renting line-time from a co-manufacturer that already has the equipment until the product is established and they can determine the time is right to bring production in house.”
Turnkey options for retail-ready packaging rely on vision-guided robotics to streamline what was once a labor-intensive process.
To accommodate the proliferation of packaging formats, bakers and snack producers often must choose between the lesser of two evils: versatile systems that allow for multiple changeovers per shift and dedicated lines that drive volume.
“Companies are driven by consumer demand,” Mr. Gunnell said. “To meet their demands, they sometimes need to change midstream, and it makes for reduced efficiencies. That’s the bottom line.”
In Europe and Asia, he noted, many companies are adding dedicated lines to complement slower, more flexible systems.
“Dedicated lines drive efficiencies,” Mr. Gunnell said. “You’re getting higher efficiencies and better-quality packaging in the long run. It’s not uncommon for them to spend more on a dedicated line to be the lowest-cost operation.”
Biggest little challenge
Another major conundrum involves the continued trend toward smaller packs and individually wrapped items and efficiently placing them in caddies, cartons and other forms of secondary packaging. To maintain oven speeds and overall volume, packaging systems need to run at significantly faster rates. Finding additional space to house new equipment, however, poses a spatial strain in many existing plants and landlocked facilities.
“Often companies have two choices — and both cost money,” Mr. Kehrli said. “They either have to buy new equipment or run existing equipment slower. If bakers are making 20,000 crackers a minute, they’re not going to want to change that number because of smaller packaging sizes, so they have to turn to higher-speed equipment. It needs to fit in a smaller space, run faster and be more flexible. They also need to run different formats to satisfy different smaller packaging requirements as well as multi-dimensional, multi-pack configurations. We’re seeing a lot more interest in that area.”
In confined spaces, Cavanna connects two of its Slim wrapping machines, called Twin Slim, upstream to the loader and downstream to a G41F robot. After exiting the Twin Slim, the robotic unit takes the wrapped packs to fill RSC cases per customers’ requests. In addition to space savings, the integrated packaging line offers greater accessibility for sanitation and maintenance.
To minimize floor space, Bosch Packaging Technology recently rolled out a topload cartoner with carton-forming, product-loading and carton-closing in one machine.
The ergonomically designed Kliklok ITC system offers a low-level carton hopper, swing arm-mounted HMI display, glue tank and product infeed on one side of the machine. Operators can access the forming and closing sections without crossing the production line. Moreover, tool-free jigs and a change-part numbering system allow for changeovers in less than 15 minutes. As a result, one person can efficiently manage the forming, loading and closing packaging process at speeds up to 80 cartons a minute.
Mr. Kehrli stressed that it’s not as easy to make changes on a packaging line where the assets are fixed and not as nimble as newer packaging lines that combine multiple advances in technology in one system.
“We redesigned equipment from the bottom-up platform to make them run faster,” he said. “We’re using new motion controllers and robotics. This is much more about engineering things better than just adding new technology. We’re making the equipment simpler, cleaner and more flexible.”
By relying on innovation through integrating various forms of automation, caddies, cartons and other forms of outer packaging play second fiddle to no one.
