Baking & Snack - June 2005 - 88

PACKAGING TECHNOLOGY

Advances in packaging equipment
address demands for flexibility
and product protection.

BY HALLIE FORCINIO
here are two constants on
bakery and snack packaging
lines: There's always a need
to go faster, and labor costs
must be kept under control. Today's
proliferation of products and packaging formats means machines also
must be flexible in order to minimize downtime.
To meet these demands, suppliers of bakery and snack packaging
equipment are designing equipment to run faster, changeover more
quickly and automate previously
manual functions. "It's very important that bakers can changeover
machines with a minimum amount
of downtime," said the director of
product marketing at a supplier of
bakery equipment and automation
technology based in the Southeast.
This supplier boosted the speed
of its bread bagger to 75 1-lb loaves
per minute. The redesigned machine
replaced pushers, traditionally used
for transferring loaves, with a patented pendulum scoop mechanism.
A special discharge flight conveyor
replaced the slide/push bar mechanisms customarily used. Variablefrequency drives reduced maintenance and improved accuracy by
eliminating the need for chains,
pulleys, belts and sprockets.
To simplify the overwrapping/
bagging operation typically used
for premium bread, one supplier of
packaging equipment developed a
bag-in-bag system that loads a loaf,
seals and trims the bag, perforates

the bottom to simplify consumer
access to slices, loads the bagged loaf
into a second bag and applies a twist
tie for reclosure.
This bagging system, now in use
at Toronto, ON-based Canada Bread
Co., was also designed for ease of
sanitation. A cantilevered structure
makes it easy to use a broom or air
hose to remove crumbs.
The ever-expanding selection of
premium bread products will likely
multiply as consumers pay
more attention
to
wholegrain. This,
in turn, will
lead to increased demand
for
overwrapping/
bagging systems, the
traditional packaging
used for premium
loaves. Improvements
in double bagging
will center on protecting and extending shelf life and enhancing
tamper evidence. "Bags will be sealed
as well as tied," predicted the director
of product marketing.
An increase in sealed single bags
is likely as well. Already widely used
in South America, Europe and Japan,
this technology is being advanced
by an equipment company based in
the Southwest to broaden usage in
North America. It has installed units
on several tortilla packaging lines.
"The sealer is just added into the line
between the bagger and the tyer,"

ᮡ Multipack equipment puts finished
pouches in film-wrapped bales using a
vertical f/f/s machine.
TAYLOR PRODUCTS

explained the company's sales director, technical service. The equipment
seals the bag of bread, hamburger or
hotdog buns or tortillas and forms a
perforation for easy opening. In addition to providing tamper evidence, the
sealed package saves on materials and
is a less expensive alternative to double
bagging for premium products.
RISE OF ROBOTS. The need for flexibility and speed is helping boost the

June 2005 / BAKING & SNACK / 93

Baking & Snack - June 2005

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Baking & Snack - June 2005