New machines and new objectives

PRB: secondary packaging proposals designed for the food industry,
with an eye to largescale users

Created as an industrial concern focussed on the pharmaceutical market, over the years PRB has diversified the sectors of destination of their machines, and today they are targeting companies and multinationals in the confectionery business, with particular attention to the manufacturers of candy and chewing gum. It is in this very context that PRB has recently demonstrated the ability to create a conveying and secondary packaging line for hard candy in sticks and packs for a global company. Mandated to implement a special, tailor-made line and to package a new product to be launched on the international market, PRB has been able to respond to the needs of flexibility expressed by the customer, developing a state-of-the-art solution with innovatory features.

The line and its construction. The line is composed of a buffer for product accumulation (able to harmonize the performance between primary and secondary packaging), followed by a trayer for the production of trays and display box. The product is wrapped in a special film and placed in cardboard boxes by a wrap-around casepacker and then sent to an innovatory Ministratus Twin double bay palletizer. PRB provided the entire system, complete with linking conveyor as well as online tracking software, ensuring production speeds of up to 600 products per minute. The project was also created in virtue of the longstanding relationship of faith that links the two protagonists, that has allowed both to obtain numerous advantages: the user, that aimed at efficiency and quality of packaging as a key to the success of the product and further differentiation in a highly competitive market, and PRB itself with its constant striving to offer high added value solutions, that rose to the challenge, obtaining a brilliant, highly satisfactory result.
 
Projects for the food industry. Determined to also win a name for itself as key manufacturer in the food industry, PRB is studying specific applications featuring substantial innovations, the result of an uncommon ability to "listen to" the market. Hence, to respond to the changing needs of packaging, the company has designed and built a top loader casepacking machine for ketchup bottles of different sizes, characterized by high production speeds while at the same time being extremely compact. The result? Maximum reduction of bulk and considerable cost savings: in less than 5 meters PRB guarantees an input speed of more than 300 bottles per minute in the feeding phase. Before the grouping, the buffer enables the managing of different rates of accumulation according to the various production needs with a guided distribution/sorting system at the infeed stage. The products are then grouped according to the set layout and transferred, via a Cartesian or Gantry pick-and-place, into packing cases that are sealed with tape or glue (a reminder that PRB also provides product-suited adaptable gripping systems) The lines are then completed with the new Twin Bay palletising system, which stands out for its compactness, continuous production flow and high flexibility.
 
Desire to grow (even more). Partnering with corporations that operate worldwide distributing the most famous brands is hence the new target that PRB has set itself, and it intends achieving the same through the development of new applications and intensive R&D work. Hence the company has its eyes set on the future and especially on the emerging markets and on the start up of new works and new production lines. Not to mention the fact the solutions and applications designed and built for major market players will offer PRB the opportunity to increase their technical and productive knowhow and to filter down and replicate the same to the benefit of all operators in the food and confectionery industries.

PRB SpA, now part of the TMC network, specializes in machinery and end-of-line packaging systems for the food and confectionery, paper and detergency sectors. Their product range includes cellophaning machines, casepackers (both horizontal and vertical robotic) and palletizers. But they also provide turnkey solutions, completing packaging lines with identification, encoding, monitoring and complete control systems.