Bakeries and snack manufacturers have a lot of needs in their packaging departments today. Not only do they need the most efficient, high-throughput machinery, they also are looking for flexibility as consumer and customer tastes and budgets change.

Equipment manufacturers are pushing forward to find better ways to meet those needs and help producers package their goods safely and adroitly. 

Advances are being made in several areas, including robots, cobots, vision systems, sustainable packaging and more. Sometimes many of those elements come together.

“Lately, we’re finding more applications where there’s a combination of robotics, vision and artificial intelligence where AI is used to identify the best way to pick up the product, the best way to handle the orientation of the product,” said Jorge Izquierdo, vice president of market development, PMMI. “In many cases in bakeries, you have many different formats for the same product.”

For instance, lines may be running one product but packaging it in different formats.

 “You need to position not just the product but also sometimes the dividers or the different layers for protection, and a robot is able to do both things and provide a lot of flexibility,” he added.

Vision systems not only enable automated quality assurance, they optimize packaging efficiency by detecting production position, orientation and shape while also streamlining processes, reducing waste and improving productivity, said Kimberly Kocer, product manager for Syntegon.

“While there have been notable advancements in various areas, advanced vision technology has revolutionized packaging processes, introducing precision, efficiency and quality control,” she said. “It can accurately identify and inspect products, ensuring package integrity and minimizing errors. For commercial bakeries and snack makers, this innovation offers significant advantages.”

The use of vision systems for quality control of both products and packaging is one of the most promising innovations, said Christian Romualdi, group marketing and communication manager, IMA Ilapak. Monitoring and controlling all packaging parameters, such as sealing and product position, keeps productivity and efficiency high.

“Simply put, machines must be able to record everything that happens and interpret the signals to take immediate actions,” Mr. Romualdi said.

TNA solutions has developed and continues to improve augmented reality and virtual reality (AR/VR) tools to help customers plan and maintain packaging solutions.

“Over the past year, extended reality (XR) has emerged as a prominent technology, empowering manufacturers to gain valuable insight before implementing physical actions,” said Mukul Shukla, vice president, North America, TNA.

The company offers interactive digital twins of planned or existing operations, giving customers with a VR headset the ability to enter virtual versions of their factories and test different configurations before building the plant. Operators can be virtually trained on production lines with this technology. AR technology assists with remote maintenance sessions as operators can share what they’re seeing with technicians who can guide them with repairs or line adjustments.

“These XR and AR capabilities revolutionize the manufacturing landscape, offering unprecedented insights, training opportunities and remote support for enhanced operational efficiency,” Mr. Shukla said.

Bill Kehrli, vice president of sales and marketing for Cavanna Packaging, envisions a not-too-distant future that includes cobots mounted on AGVs performing a variety of tasks.

“The technology is there today and I think when people are ready to do this, they should seriously consider it,” he said. “Is it doable? Yes. Is it doable for every job function? No, not yet. That’s one thing with AGVs, predictive maintenance and industry 4.0. There’s a lot going on, and that’s exciting.”

This article is an excerpt from the August 2023 issue of Baking & Snack. To read the entire feature on Packaging Innovations, click here.