Vertical form/fill/seal machines must operate faster and be able to accommodate a wide range of products in today’s fast-paced market.
 

 

New vertical horizons

Reflecting the push for flexibility and efficiency, v/f/f/s baggers are designed with manufacturers’ needs in mind.

Mr. Lozano underscored the importance of recognizing the increasingly broad spectrum of products and packages that baking and snack companies are making. “By adapting the packaging design and look of their product, manufacturers can easily update their portfolio to ensure they maintain visibility and relevance in the marketplace without having to reformulate the actual product,” he said.

While this opens opportunities for food manufacturers to stand out on the shelf and explore new avenues of growth, it also affects their production processes. “For us as an OEM, this means all of our equipment needs to be designed to offer the highest level of flexibility when it comes to handling new materials, package sizes and varying line speeds,” Mr. Lozano said. “The more flexible the packaging system, the less time is required to change production runs to accommodate different pack sizes or formats, resulting in minimum interruption to the production flow.”

To support that demand for flexibility, Mr. Lozano noted that TNA’s machines include no mechanical adjustments when changing product or film, quick format changes and a wide variety of jaw size configurations that enable full flexibility of bag size and format, film type and application on a single packaging system. “That way, food manufacturers can be sure they are able to respond to consumer trends quickly and efficiently without having to make costly and time-consuming changes to their production setup,” he said.

TNA’s flexibility-driven Robag packaging system includes a fully integrated inserter and/or labeler. “For the first time, our engineers were able to achieve a full hardware and software integration of this type of equipment into a high-speed v/f/f/s packaging system,” Mr. Lozano explained, citing the addition of promotional items such as coupons, game pieces or small collectibles into packaging or the insertion of small sachets of complementary sauces or extra seasoning.

Continue reading to learn how companies continue to innovate in the vertical packaging arena.