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The Austrian confectionery manufacturer PEZ International was looking for a fully automatic packaging system for wrapping its hard sweets. A high-performance and flexible system was required for the primary packaging of the sweets, which also had to be available quickly. A new development from Sacmi Packaging & Chocolate came at just the right time.
At its production site in Vienna, PEZ International produces around 2,000 tonnes of gelatine products and hard sweets in all varieties and shapes every year. The process ranges from the production of the raw mass from syrup, sugar and water to the final packaging. The fragile sweets, also known as "Zuckerl" in Austria, are then wrapped in film. To do this, the company uses several Packaging lines special wrapping machines one. At the end of 2021, PEZ International took on a customer enquiry that far exceeded the capacity of the existing packaging systems.
„We needed a high-performance Wrapping machine for the double twist wrapping of 800 hard sweets per minute, which also had to be installed quickly,“ explains Manfred Hackl, Technical Manager at PEZ International. And Sacmi Packaging & Chocolate had recently launched a new development on the market. The The H-1K wrapping machine under the Carle & Montanari brand is designed for wrapping round and rectangular sweets in double twist wrapping. and met all performance specifications. The new system was delivered quickly and immediately impressed with the products in test operation.
In addition, the packaging machine manufacturer was willing to adapt the feed disc of the H-1K specifically for this application. „With our existing wrapping machines, we have found that the sugar contained in the sweets smears the metal of the feed disc. Sacmi Packaging & Chocolate acted accordingly and designed a specially moulded plate made of high-strength plastic for us,“ emphasises Manfred Hackl.
One feed disc for many formats
The H-1K wrapping machine under the Carle & Montanari brand from Sacmi proved to be the perfect solution. Optimum solution for the double twist wrap of the small sweets at PEZ. Since April 2022, it has been packing hard sweets of various formats in two-shift operation. To do this, the sweets are first filled into a feed tray and then pass through a vibrating chute with a grid to separate out any broken pieces onto the rotating feed disc. Thanks to the servomotor-controlled drive profile of this single-cycle disc, the new winding machine offers high efficiency and high performance.
With the „Adjustable Pitch“ feature for Freely selectable product dimensions and spacing the H-1K goes beyond the conventional mechanical, cam-based principles and allows great flexibility for the packaging of very different products. The optimum Production parameters are stored in the system to ensure high efficiency and high speed. to reach.
The Feeding disc is continuously fed by sensor control and it also acts as a product buffer. Once the sweets have arrived on the plate, they are gently conveyed into cavities adapted to their dimensions at the edge of the disc. Once separated in this way, the products can be picked up by a rotary gripper and fed to the wrapping device. Due to the Tensioning of the film ensures that the candy is wrapped tightly and firmly. „The double twist wrap has a very good quality,“ emphasises Manfred Hackl.
The film is also fed into the wrapping machine via servo drives, whereby a short feed prevents electrostatic charging. In the interests of high machine availability, PEZ International has the option of a Double film roll holder with automatic film splicing selected. However, if film is missing or the product supply stops, the machine switches off immediately.
Fast product changes
PEZ International also benefits from the fast product changeovers on the winding machine. „We rely on speed and the changeover of the H-1K only takes around 30 minutes,“ says Manfred Hackl happily. He also praises the very simple operation and the logical processes, which the employees get on with perfectly. The packaging machine is controlled via a user-friendly HMI touchscreen designed in accordance with Industry 4.0 standards. was.
The fully transparent safety guard provides a clear view of the inside of the machine. For cleaning measures, the winding machine is easily accessible due to its open design. Thanks to the splash water protection in accordance with protection class IP54, the inevitable sugar deposits are removed by wet cleaning. Fragments and crumbs from the sweets end up in collecting trays, which can be removed and emptied during operation.
Flexibility for the future
Manfred Hackl is completely satisfied with the investment in packaging technology: „With the H-1K, we fulfil the customer's order and deliver perfectly wrapped hard sweets.“ PEZ International can use the Recalibrate the wrapping machine if it will be used to wrap other confectionery in future are to be packaged. This means that the machine purchased for packaging the hard sweets can be converted at a later date to a completely different product in terms of size and properties.
The PEZ group of companies from Traun near Linz employs almost 1,000 people and has production sites in Hungary and the USA in addition to Vienna. The company puts around 70 million PEZ dispensers and five billion sweets into circulation every year, which are available in more than 80 countries worldwide. In addition to the PEZ brand, which was launched in 1927, the BioBon, Egger and Hustinetten brands also belong to the PEZ family.
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