S U S TA I N A B I L I T Y
Flexible flow-wrapping covers biscuits An Alsatian manufacturer with over a hundred years of heritage relies on a modern flow-wrapping machine from Schubert to package its baked goods. The flexibility of the robot-assisted flowpacker ensures that the producer will be able to switch to more sustainable packaging in the future.
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© Gerhard Schubert GmbH
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The flowpacker can also process mono films and, as shown here, paper-based films
Today, the variations in material and shape of packaging are practically endless – coming in handy for providers to satisfy an increasing variety of customer requirements and preferences. Sustainability is becoming increasingly important for consumers and manufacturers alike. The share of paperbased packaging elements is steadily increasing, for example, the sweet baked goods segment (especially so in the B2Cdominated food sector). It is not only industry giants that are driving this change; small and medium-sized confectionery manufacturers are also closely examining alternative possibilities of packaging their popular products sustainably. Among them is a producer of traditional baked goods from Alsace that required a new packaging machine to meet the customers’ changing values regarding packaging. This small bakery has been making biscuits for over 100 years. As a traditional operation, it values the diversity in its products. A wide range of fine pastries is produced here, including many organic offerings. There is something for every biscuit lover in the portfolio of this manufacturer: wafers and biscuits with and without chocolate, in layers or fully coated, and all in a wide variety of sizes. To properly sustain this multitude of products, production managers placed great importance on the flexibility of a new packaging machine. For medium-sized companies, in particular, the switch to new types of packaging cannot be made overnight, and their needs can evolve differently depending on the sales market. A multitasking machine was needed, one that could keep up with the wide range of products and packaging, including sustainable solutions.
www.bakingbiscuit.com 03/2021
Packaging as diverse as the contents The bakery wanted to be able to handle plastic and paperbased films, trays made of cardboard and plastic, and U-boards – all of this in a process involving fragile products that needed delicate handling after production, for quality control and packaging into flowpacks bags, both with and without trays. The changeover of packaging forms and products had to be carried out quickly and efficiently. And finally, there was another requirement: the packaging machine would have to be as compact as possible. Schubert’s flow-wrapping machine met all its requirements. It was especially the necessity of a compact design that favored the flowpacker: “Our integrated system, which includes de-stackers, pick & place robots and the Flowmodul flowwrapping unit, was the ideal solution from our point of view,” explains Dominique Spitz, area sales manager at Schubert. In a small space, the flow-wrapping machine in Alsace has been handling all the steps of the packaging process since its installation in June 2020. Flexibility is required right from
Facts & figures
+ Compact machine layout + 9 different product formats + Efficiency of 98% + Output of up to 100 flowpacks per minute + Sustainable packaging materials
