Packaging pouches in various shelf-ready formats
Made by Cama Group for a multinational food company, the plant for the secondary and tertiary packaging of stand-up pouches in various shelf-ready configurations for the large-scale retail trade responds promptly to the requirements of high productivity, ergonomics, rapid and flexible format changeover.
In recent times, various factors at global level have influenced the behavior and lifestyles of billions of people.
Like other sectors, the food sector has seen a rapid evolution, following the exponential growth of eCommerce, accelerated during the pandemic, and the affirmation of new marketing and consumption models, with the advent of campaigns, offers and diversified product lines, in all distribution channels, GDO in primis.
In this scenario, the supply of ultra-flexible production and packaging systems, which can be configured quickly and easily according to needs, is an essential condition for competitiveness.
Cama Group, at the forefront in addressing the demand for greater efficiency, has recently supplied a multinational company in the food sector with a secondary and tertiary packaging plant, capable of combining high production rates with extreme flexibility in format changeover.
Specifications of a made in Italy project
The plant supplied by Cama packages a daily use product for feeding children in a pouch with an open and close cover: an advantageous choice, that of the re-sealable Doypack format ready for consumption “on the go”, for the benefits of practicality, product dosing, storage, and transportation that this format provides.
Cama has therefore proposed a solution designed to package stand-up pouches in SRP (Shelf Ready Packaging) cases made from flat blanks. Following that, the same cases must be encased in a wraparound case, suitable for handling in supermarkets.
Cama’s intervention has also made it possible to replace the two pre-existing production plants - one for pre-glued boxes and another for flat cardboard wrap-around packs - with a single packing machine, capable of carrying out all the packaging steps at the end of the line.
From the pouch to the SRP box
The checked and sorted pouches are inserted into Shelf Ready Packaging boxes made from flat blanks (previously a pre-glued cardboard was used) for multipack boxes of four pouches of 100 g each or microwave for other formats (with hot glue closure). This is the current weight for the pouches, but different sizes (85, 90, 100, 128, 130, and 180 grams) are possible depending on the production programs. It will be possible to include larger formats, such as the 500 gram one. Speed ranges from 30 to 72 SRP packages per minute (4x100 gram format).
The Shelf Ready Packaging boxes (four pouches) are grouped and placed in corrugated cardboard wraparound boxes made from flat blanks (closed with hot glue). There are three cases in each wrap case. Speed ranges from 10 to 20 cases per minute.
FW746: more operations with a single machine
The different steps are carried out by a single, very compact machine:
the FW746 model by Cama Group (derived from the FW748, standard machine) can create crates with dimensions up to a quarter of a pallet (400 X 300 mm) for products that require reduced packaging due to the demands of the large-scale retail trade.
The FW746 model can be integrated into a monobloc robotic unit to create a complete packaging system with box formation, loading, and closing: the product enters with primary packaging, and the box exits ready for shipment.
Sustainable materials
Finally, we would like to remind you that, in line with the tendency to minimize the use of plastic materials, Cama plants make use of materials derived from paper, therefore plastic free: a very appreciated requirement by the client company, particularly attentive to the aspects of environmental sustainability, which required the possibility to use environmentally friendly packaging materials.
