Baking & Snack - May 2023 - 84

SNACK PACKAGING
mating the process,
they are often
done manually.
" Labor by far is the biggest obstacle, "
said Joe Curcio, Northeast
regional sales manager, BluePrint
Automation. " I've seen as many
as 40 people assembling variety
packs in facilities. It's a lot of people
for something that doesn't have
a lot of value add. The
other obstacle is
waste. They have to
package the product
in a case or on a pallet,
then it goes into storage
and then they bring
it back and mix it with
other ones. Typically,
they end up throwing
away some of that corrugate
or all of it and the
stretch wrap. "
He said many snack makers don't
build the variety packs in the packaging departIntelligent
communication
between various
production components
can improve overall
efficiency.
TNA Solutions
ment because assembling them on the floor takes up a
lot of space, which can be at a premium in that part of
the plant.
" If you're running an eight-flavor variety pack, you're
going to have at least eight pallets of product that people
have to pull to build the final package, " Mr. Curcio explained.
" That takes up some floor space as well. "
He estimated that roughly half of the snack makers
assemble variety packs in warehouses away from the
production floor and half send them to a co-packer.
Those opting for live feed applications require room
for a multiple robotic case packing operation, which
takes up more room than a standard case packer, said
Jason D'Arcy, product group sales manager, vertical,
Syntegon.
" We're
seeing customers who've
established their
whole multi-flavor packs start to bring that process back
in house and make those variety and those multipacks
in their own facility, " he added. " When you figure the
added transportation costs - whether you're doing it in
your own factory or offsite at a third party - you have
shipping, you're moving loose bags somewhere, having
them repacked and bringing them back into your network.
That all adds costs. "
And the more combinations that snack makers plan
to put together, the more of a logistics challenge they will
have, said Dennis Gunnell, president, Formost Fuji. He
suggested that the marketing team define their expectations
if a company plans to automate variety packs and
stick with the plan to avoid problems down the road.
" Making all the items and getting them all to the same
spot at the same time is the No. 1 biggest problem, " he said.
" No. 2 is just the sheer variety of options they can do. The
more items in that product line that they want to bring together
in their variety pack, the more difficult it can be. "
For products that go to a warehouse or co-packer, ensuring
that products are handled and in good shape for
variety packs can be challenging.
Cavanna: scalable Flowpack, Cartoning & Casepacking
Cavanna Packaging specializes in:
* Turn-key Flow Wrapping, Cartoning and 6 Casepacking solutions
* Sanitary Design Systems for
the Food Industry
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Yoke solutions
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Flow Wrapping lines
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CAVANNA PACKAGING USA INC.
3400 Corporate Way | Suite F | Duluth GA 30096 | Phone: (770) 688-1501
Fax: (770) 810-3528 | sales@cavannagroup.com | www.cavanna-usa.com
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