Italian Espresso: new frontiers

Once mainly tied to vending, monodose capsules and packs are now progressively gaining hold in the widescale retail trade, accompanying the traditional offer of ground or granulated coffee. Spreafico, the builder of machines for packaging coffee and solubles, analyses the trend and proposed solutions in line with the needs of the new global market.

The spirit of change that has always animated the company Spreafico (Calolziocorte, LC) has led to the creation of cutting edge technology, but also to a new company image, new logo and new website.

«The expresso has become a pleasure to be tasted in the comfort of one’s own home. In the coffee sector, companies like Nespresso have forced a significant change of course - veteran sector expert and time-honored Spreafico sales rep Gianfranco Zanarini observes - leading to a true and proper revolution in domestic consumption. Packaging in capsules in fact enables consumers to choose their own favourite blend from amongst a rich range of different qualities, with tempting and evocative names, encouraging consumers to taste and try out new varieties. Hence the larder can contain different types of capsules, to be chosen at one’s fancy: a mode of consumption inconceivable with the packs of loose ground coffee that, once opened, present problems of preservation».

Compatibles Vs originals
The success of this trend, also following the demise of the big international brands, has opened new and important opportunities for Italian coffee roasters, and consequently, the builders of machines for packaging coffee in single doses. At Host, the Lecco based company Spreafico, fully aware of the potential of this market, presented a new solution for packaging coffee portions in compatible capsules.
«A type of product - Zanarini states - that is evermore accompanying the “proprietory” systems of original brand capsules exclusively distributed along with the brand’s ad hoc expresso machine. These are “closed” platforms where only the large companies hold sway in that, in order to impose themselves on the public, huge investments in advertising, solid margins and consequently huge economic resources are required. Against this, the diffusion of compatible capsules over the years has in actual fact enabled medium-scale Italian producers to gain ground, to the point of venturing beyond Italy’s borders and tackle the international markets with ever greater success.
Italian production in fact enjoys an unrivalled advantage in terms of image because the expresso is eternally associated with Made in Italy. 

Technology on show
From the point of view of packaging constructors, today’s market requires reliable machines, capable of dialoguing with existing lines upstream and downstream: here easy integration becomes a decisive factor. Satisfying this need, the new Spreafico solution targets mid-to high-range producers, with machines that work up to 500 pieces/min, and that thus require an equally significant automation.
At Host the Lecco-based company presented a six lane unit for packaging compatible capsules, with or without self protection, featuring original mechanical and electronic solutions.
All the stations of the system (the three moulds and the suction and pressing unit) are extractable, to thus facilitate cleaning and reduce machine downtime. This original layout in fact avoids stoppages due to blocked capsules, enormously facilitating running and optimizing the production cycle.
In electronic terms, the new machine has a system that runs all operations in sync, providing max. accuracy and reliability. The speed of movement of the various components has also been optimised to prolong the lifespan of all mechanical parts.
Lastly, thanks to a different management of the dosing and seal times, the machine can be easily adapted to the various different heatseal materials.