Sweet success

According to the latest available statistics, confectionery markets continue to grow in the sweet toothed UK. Consumer values of £3,946M for chocolates (up 7.2% over 2002) and £1,657M for sugar confectionery (up 6.2%) are the 2003 estimates from the BCCCA (Biscuit Cake Chocolate and Confectionery Association). All those bars, boxes and bags of sweets and chocs need wrapping and packaging – attractively for the consumer and retailer and efficiently and cost-effectively to help the producer maintain margins – and this year's interpack proved fertile ground for the confectionery manufacturer seeking new ideas.

Literally bags of innovation were to be seen from high performance vertical, form, fill and seal machinery specialist TNA, for example, which demonstrated how its new Robag 3 series of totally integrated VFFS systems can efficiently pack challenging products including confectionery.

Shown for the first time in Europe was the Robag 3 rotary triple jaw machine, with a TNA 320 scale. The triple jaw is claimed to provide even greater performance – speeds in excess of 220bags/min – and the combination of very high speed, high efficiency and low waste is what sets it apart, the company says. The Robag 3 series also includes the rotary flat jaw model which is capable of packing large bags with a flat bag width range up to 420mm on certain models. It is said to provide maximum flexibility, being able to produce string bags, quattro-packs, gusseted bags, block bottom bags, Euroslot, hole burner and pillow packs all on the one machine.

It was at the previous interpack that one of Asia's largest and top-selling confectionery manufacturers, Sucerè Foods, first witnessed the TNA ROBAG 2Ci VFFS machine in action and Sucerè recently purchased a machine in a rotary double jaw configuration, to pack one of its most popular products, chocolate balls.

A return on investment examination demonstrated that the equipment would be able to increase Sucerè's productivity by increasing its packaging capacity as well as reducing rejects and product wastage rate and the company says the Robag 2Ci is now running even faster than it had expected. "Our plant productivity has increased by 30% since the installation", says plant manager, Rodel Casison. "The equipment is running at the speed of 110bags/min with weighing efficiency above 90%. Aside from the high output, the machine is also able to produce and maintain good quality products. With this increase in productivity and quality, we are certain of a quick return on investment".

Dominating Bradman Lake's largest ever presentation of working flow wrapping, robotic cartoning and shrinkwrapping equipment at interpack was

a complete, fully automated packaging line for confectionery bar products. Sold to an unnamed overseas manufacturer, it introduced two new machines to confectionery makers.

First was the latest in Bradman Lake's series of robotic top load equipment, the high speed LJ/TRT triple race track collator/loader. Incorporating ABB Flexpicker robotics, it collated and loaded flow wrapped bar products at speeds in excess of 700units/min.

Supplying formed open top cartons ready for loading was another of the new machines, designed and built in Germany by Bradman Lake GmbH. The all-servo AMI Erector operates at speeds up to 100 strokes/min and can erect cartons and compartment trays in solid and corrugated board using lock forming, hot melt or hot air sealing. Single, double and triple forming head models are available.

An automatic row distribution system from Autowrappers supplied bar-type products into a Flowtronic FT120 flow wrapper that fed wrapped bars into the LJ/TRT collator/loader. The filled cartons flowed into a Compact 3 lugless 3-flap carton closer from which sealed cartons were transferred into a Europack shrinkwrapper that collated multipack units ready for distribution. When installed, Bradman Lake says the line will be capable of speeds up to 700packs/min.

The FlexPicker shown by LoeschPack is a high performance pick and place system using delta robots for tray loading chocolate coated products. The LRM-G/LTM-K fold wraps individual small chocolate bars and batch wraps them at up to 450 articles/min. There was also interest at interpack in the LHW-1/WKM-1 – a stick packaging and batch cartoning system for chewing gum pillows with a capacity up to 400 sticks/min, 40 cartons/min – and the LTM-Duo, a new confectionery fold wrapper.

Higher outputs and a "radically reduced" footprint are the main features of the TG250-RC bagging machine launched by Sandiacre Packaging Machinery (part of Molins Packaging Machinery). The reciprocating jaw, continuous motion VFFS machine is said to be capable of producing up to 200 bags/min, yet is small enough to slot easily into new or existing production lines.

Offering quick changeover, product in jaw detection, and automatic self-centering transport, it also has fewer parts to simplify maintenance, says Sandiacre. Equipped with Allen-Bradley's ControlLogix control system and colour human/machine interface as standard, it also promises constant film speed, providing better back and cross seals, consistent bag length and reduced strain on the film.

Also launched in Düsseldorf was Eurosicma's Euro 88 HL, a high speed electronic wrapping machine with an eight-belt, pressure-less HSF feeding system. Capable of operating up to a claimed 1,000 pieces/min, it is suitable for various confectionery products such as moulded/enrobed bars.

With fully automatic feeding systems, such as horizontal and vertical buffers, row distribution systems and aligners, the company can supply fully automatic wrapping lines in several configurations. The company also featured new versions of the Euro 77 electronic wrapper range with feeders dedicated to lollypops, dragée gums and hard and soft candies. Versatility and high speed are said to be key benefits of the equipment.

Successful innovation in confectionery packaging can frequently mean a new way of attracting the prime consumers – children. Haribo in Belgium recently chose Amcor StringPull, the latest flexible packaging offering from Amcor Flexibles, to add a fun way to reclose its Dulcia Marshmallows brand. The new pack design delivers an extremely cost-effective reclose system for form, fill and seal packaging applications, says the company.

One kilogram bags of marshmallows are packed in a two-ply OPP laminate, printed six colours flexo at Amcor Flexibles Evesham in the UK and supplied with an inner polyethylene string extruded by sister-company Amcor Flexibles Gent in Belgium. The PE string is sealable to OPP and runs together with the packaging material into the VFFS packaging machine and is positioned at the side of the pack and sealed in the corner area at both top and bottom. The cross sealing jaw has been vertically elongated and adjusted to enable a pre-cut to be made at the side of the bag. This is said to offer a very cost-effective easy-opening solution where the tear will always be guided to the top of the bag.

Clear on-pack instructions show consumers how to tear off the corner of the bag and pull out the extendible PE string. The bag can be reclosed either by squeezing and twisting the neck of the bag or by rolling down the top, then simply wrapping the string around and tucking the end under. Packs can be opened and reclosed many times.

Children's sticky fingers from eating sweets could be a thing of the past thanks to the introduction of new packaging from leading confectionery manufacturer McCowans of Stenhousemuir, Scotland, incorporating P P Payne's SupastripXL tear tape.

Colourful packs for Lanky Larry's and Wizard Wandz include the 2mm red tear tape. The tape provides tamper-evidence and ease of access and can also be pulled gradually down the pack to reveal just a small part of the product at any one time, giving children controlled access which prevents their hands from getting messy. "This is a brand-enhancing packaging innovation that benefits both kids and their parents," comments Christine Tolmie of McCowans.

Produced in food grade materials, SupastripXL uses P P Payne's own pressure-sensitive adhesion technology, which it says provides a much safer working environment than the traditional hot-melt method, while also delivering "excellent distortion-free bonding between tear tape and wrapper".

Several new OPP films from ExxonMobil Chemical Films Europe were released at the show, including a very low temperature sealing coating (VLTSC) designed for optimum machine performance. It will allow packaging on HFFS machines at much improved speeds, claims the company.

Meanwhile new films in the company's Metallyte range are set to provide major improvements in terms of barrier properties. The Metallyte 18XM383 using Protyte barrier technology for "a highly attractive metallised film alternative to aluminium foil" is said to provide among the best barrier properties available on the market for an uncoated metallised film, while a new EVOH coated barrier metallised film is claimed to offer excellent protection against oxygen and moisture.