Proper maintenance, sanitation and a well-trained staff will keep bar packaging lines running smoothly. 

“It’s all about how well these plants maintain their equipment,” said Mike Alexander, sales manager for the Eastern United States and Canada, Formost Fuji. “How often is their sanitation process? What are their practices for daily maintenance? Machines will break down and parts will wear out. They have to have them tuned up. They have to make sure everything is running efficiently. That is why we offer machine surveys through our service department. This helps customers determine if their equipment is running properly and efficiently.”

Good quality inspection systems eliminate out-of-spec product before it reaches packaging.

“Keep the bars in well-defined rows prior to feeding to the packaging lines,” said Josh Becker, bakery and confection segment manager, Harpak-Ulma. “Ensure enough primary packaging redundancy is built into the bar packaging line. If line space allows, install a buffer that would be able to refeed bars back into the packaging line to avoid creating extra waste and downtime.”

Getting the basics right like following preventative maintenance schedules of cleaning, lubrication and inspection as well as following standard operating procedures for line setup, changeovers and operation will minimize human error and keep things consistent, said pointed out Yasha Shamayeli, director marketing strategy, Plan It Packaging.

“Using sensors and machine data analytics helps detect issues early — for example, temperature fluctuations, jammed bars — and optimize performance,” he said. “Well-trained operators can quickly troubleshoot problems and perform routine adjustments. Cross-training staff ensures coverage during absences.”

Manufacturers are striving to make equipment easier to use and clean, helping bakeries with inexperienced crews.

“SACMI’s newer designs focus on enhancing the operator’s environment, featuring machines that are easy to clean and intuitive, guiding operators on what the machine needs and minimizing the need for manual intervention,” said Mark Lozano, vice president North American operations, SACMI Packaging and Chocolate USA. 

Liam Buckley, IMA Ilapak sales director, North America, suggested that bakers allow for redundancy in their packaging lines, if possible.

“If space or budget constraints prevent that, then allow the process to keep running through the wrappers and go into WIP [work in progress] to allow subsequent automatic re-feeding of the bars when secondary/tertiary packaging is available again,” he said.

When it comes to sanitizing bar lines, using too much water can cause some problems. Sanitation crews need to use water judiciously.

“If I were to say there is one culprit really damaging equipment, it’s excessive water,” Alexander said. “They’ll get very aggressive with a hose. Wrappers are more technically astute than when they were simply mechanical machines. It’s an electrical device; it doesn’t like water. So being a bit more cautious with the hose can really help protect their longevity.” 

Bill Kehrli, vice president sales and marketing, Cavanna Packaging, was a project team member for PMMI’s “One Voice for Hygienic Equipment Design for Low-Moisture Foods” published in October 2024. He echoed that idea. Bakers interested in learning more can find the report at opxleadershipnetwork.org.

“Understand why you are cleaning,” he said. “Cleaning is not black and white. There are several layers of gray and how you attack it is done in different ways, depending on what that goal and purpose of cleaning is.”

Precision is key for bar packaging lines. Bakers must ensure that they have the right equipment, make needed adjustments for each bar type and size, and maintain machinery properly to keep lines running smoothly.

This article is an excerpt from the March 2025 issue of Baking & Snack. To read the entire feature on Bar packaging, click here.