Baking & Snack - December 2013 - 81

OPERATIONS
Bulk/Case Packing

A Case in Point

New space-saving
designs for bulk packing
systems create a lesscongested operation
within the bakery.

The latest generation of bulk and case packers addresses myriad
issues, including labor, sustainability and even employee safety.

Stewart Systems

by Dan Malovany
When it comes to capital spending next year, labor may
once again become the primary factor, followed closely by reducing waste and improving food safety. That's
because businesses face substantial labor-related headwinds to growing their bottom line, thanks to the pending fees of the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, and
the legacy issues with underfunded pensions.
In the baking and snack industries, companies are
turning to temporary help or part-time workers or even
paying existing employees overtime instead of adding
permanently to payrolls. They're also re-examining their
criteria for return on investment (ROI) when it comes to
installing bulk or case packing equipment.
With baggers cranking out 100-Cal packs at 120 or
130 units a minute, snack producers often don't hesitate
to fully automate case packing because it takes two or
three people to manually operate at those speeds, noted
Rocco Fucetola, northeast sales manager, BluePrint
Automation, Colonial Heights, VA.
Now many companies are investing in case packing,
even if manual packing requires only one person to
operate a packaging line that is running 30 to 40 10-oz
bags of chips per minute.
"In the past, they have not automated the case packing of that product," he explained. "Companies are now
looking to automate across the board. With the new
health care law changes coming and the difficult time
that people have hiring and maintaining workers, they
are looking to automate areas they would not normally
in the past."
Speed and budget constraints often determine what
type of systems to install. That's why other snack producers are upgrading to semi-automatic machines that
reduce their packing team to one person or to fully automatic systems that just need an operator to periodically

refill the case magazine, according to Bryan Sinicrope,
vice-president sales and marketing, A-B-C Packaging
Machine Corp., Tarpon Springs, FL.
Semi-automatic machines typically run at speeds up
to 15 cases per minute while automatic systems can operate at much higher speeds. However, for those on a
tight budget, Mr. Sinicrope noted semi-automatic units
generally cost about one-third the price of fully automatic systems.

Today's case packers can
handle a wide variety of
recycled materials.
BluePrint Automation

Reducing
the workload
In
addition
to
cutting labor, advances in technology for case packing - and for bulk
packing fresh and
frozen baked goods
for foodservice operators - have increased productivity
and sometimes even
improved the quality
of life on the production floor. Automatic
case erecting, bag lining and taping can
reduce repetitive motion on the job and
even stress on production lines turning
out tens of thousands
of pieces an hour, according to John Keane,

December 2013 / Baking & Snack / 81

Baking & Snack - December 2013

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