Page 24 - Packaging News Magazine July-Aug 2020
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SNACK & CONVENIENCE | www.packagingnews.com.au | July-August 2020
 Competitive advantage
Heat and Control’s Robert Marguccio discusses key areas for consideration in selecting an optimum solution for snack packing.
 THE global snack food market is expected to grow from $210.4 bil- lion in 2019 to $215.9 billion in 2020 at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 2.7%. The low growth is mainly due to economic slowdown across countries as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak.
The market is then expected to recover and grow at a CAGR of 7% from 2021 and reach $264.8 billion in 2023, according to Market Insights Reports.
Snack trends continue to see healthy snacks gaining in popularity and the traditional potato chip is constantly being reinvented with new cooking methods, more exotic flavours and the growing use of nat- ural additives.
As the market recovers and emerges from the impact of Covid, snack manufacturers will be able to maintain and achieve success by combining product development and enhancement with maximised effi- ciencies and throughput.
A greater number of product lines and shorter production runs mean more changeovers and with strict retailer standards and heightened consumer expectation, food manu- facturers must ensure both product and packaging is of consistently high quality and integrity. With the savvy choice of an effective weighing and bagging system, a manufacturer can achieve both flexibility and produc- tivity gains.
SPEED VS PRODUCTIVITY
Fast speeds remain essential to any successful operation but are cer- tainly not the only consideration. While producing in excess of 200 bags of extruded snacks per minute is an impressive figure, it must be achieved without compromising accuracy, pack quality or the consis- tency of operation speeds.
If the upstream or downstream equipment or labour struggle with the high speed of the weigher/bag- maker, then running the line “in a lower gear” and consistent speed is preferable to “racing” the line for a short period and having to stop it as equipment and people cannot cope with the speed.
Of equal importance are the issues of excessive product give- away, rejected packs or failure to effectively control the flow of prod- uct throughout the weighing and bagging process because this can result in wasted product and pack- aging, and frequent line stoppages.
Another consideration is that attempting to run machines consis- tently at the very peak of their oper- ating performance, can lead to high levels of noise and vibration. This in-turn can cause excessive wear and tear on parts which will affect the long-term reliability of the equipment.
Factory production targets are generally based on yield, for exam- ple, the number of non-defective packs in relation to all produced items. Ensuring a line is operating at a speed that delivers the highest number of right-first-time bags will be the best way to achieve this.
INTEGRATED SOLUTIONS
The multihead weigher and vertical form fill seal bagmaker are the key components for many snack product packing applications. Multihead weighers are renowned for their high speed and accuracy but ultimately it is the speed of the usually slower bagmaker that governs the overall speed of the line. If the weigher and bagmaker are fully integrated, speeds can be optimised without compromising on weighing accuracy and overall line efficiency. Speed and efficiency can be further enhanced if end of line systems, such as case packers, are also integrated into the operation.
EASE OF SET-UP
AND CHANGEOVERS
The condition of product as it is fed into a weigher is an important fac- tor in ensuring a productive and efficient packing line. Linking the line to upstream equipment allows a high level of control throughout the operation with valuable feed- back to regulate the supply and quality of product.
The increasing variety of products and pack sizes needing to be pro- duced has led to the requirement for fast and efficient changeovers in order to maintain throughput.
An integrated system makes the set-up of different product and pack
    The increasing variety of products and pack sizes needing to be produced has led to the requirement for fast and efficient changeovers in order to maintain throughput.”












































































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