Manufacturer of snacks packaging solutions Ishida Europe has launched a new vertical form fill seal (VFSS) bagmaker. With a 30% increase in speed compared with previous models, the INSPIRA Boxmotion provides an effective solution for food manufacturers that are looking to reduce their costs and ensure error-free production whilst maintaining a flexible operation to meet ever-changing customer needs.
According to Euromonitor International, value sales of snacks are expected to show higher growth rates during the forecast period 2022-2026 compared with 2020 and 2021. Healthy snacks are projected to see the highest CAGR. Innovation will continue to drive the sector with emerging trends overseeing the introduction of sustainable packaging, diverse world food flavours, functional foods, on-the-go snacks and a greater range of packaging sizes and formats to satisfy consumer demands.
Rising energy costs, skilled labour shortages and supply chain issues are some of the challenges currently facing Ishida’s snack customers today. To meet these challenges and market requirements, snack manufacturers are looking for high levels of adaptability and future proofing from their packaging equipment, which Ishida say they are meeting.
The Ishida INSPIRA Box Motion bagmaker can operate in both continuous and intermittent motion modes, enabling it to handle the widest variety of both product and pack formats, including the introduction of recyclable film and paper packs, maintaining seal quality and integrity.
Box motion technology, which the bagmaker utilises, enables the sealing jaw motion to operate in both vertical and horizontal planes; meaning more uniform pressure is applied over the entire area, where rotary jaws can only make a single point of contact as they rotate together.
On top of ensuring a more consistent and reliable seal, box motion technology can handle latest pack formats including pillow packs, side gusset, block bottom, chain packs and flat bottom.
The new bagmaker also features a new splice table light-bar for easier and faster automatic film splicing overcoming challenges associated with manual intervention. It can complete a film splice cycle in 20 seconds, allowing operators to manage more machines per head and leads to operational cost savings.
As increasing consumer demand asks for enhanced and expanded flavours and portion choice, production runs for snacks can be shorter, which means changeover time makes a bigger factor in maximising throughput.
Switching between continuous and intermittent motion can be carried out through pre-settings on the machine with no change parts or operator intervention required. Intelligent, automated features for centring film, managing air fills and adjusting tensions ensures faster changeovers with minimal operator intervention which reduces human error and consequently, film and product waste.
INSPIRA Box Motion uses 17% less energy during operation and 25% less energy on standby compared with previous models. The machine’s open structure also allows easy access to key components including the forming tube, film spindle and tension roller. A menu-driven HMI screen provides performance data and diagnostics, with multi-level password access to ensure data integrity.
“The snacks market is being driven by ongoing product and packaging developments, and remains fiercely competitive,” said Andrew Green, Snacks Business Unit Manager, Ishida Europe. “Our new INSPIRA Box Motion has been designed to allow manufacturers to continually adapt to the latest market trends while offering a new level of automation and efficiency. This minimises the chance of human error and helps to consistently produce quality bags while cutting costs and increasing profitability.”
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