Snackex 2024: Most Recent Packing and Inspection Technologies From Ishida Europe
Ishida Europe will showcase its most recent packing and inspection technologies at this year's Snackex show, which takes place in Stockholm on June 19 and 20, to assist snack manufacturers and co-packers in keeping up with the ever-changing market trends while still delivering the best possible product and pack quality.
Co-exhibiting stand #112 with process technologists Heat & Control, Ishida will showcase two recent new model launches, the Inspira Boxmotion bagmaker and TSC-AS sealtester.
The industry's current trends include the enduring appeal of healthful snacks as well as the emergence of functional foods, a wide variety of culinary varieties, and portable snacks. Alongside these, there are continuous advancements in environmentally friendly packaging as well as a wider selection of pack shapes and sizes to meet customer preferences.
At the same time, snack manufacturers are facing challenges such as energy costs, skilled labor shortages, and supply chain issues.
“The Ishida Inspira Boxmotion can help address these challenges while offering companies exceptional levels of flexibility and future-proofing to meet changing customer needs while reducing costs and ensuring error-free production. The Inspira Boxmotion handles a variety of pack formats, including pillow, side gusset, block bottom, chain packs, and flat bottom bags, and its continuous motion capability can achieve speeds of up to 160 packs per minute. A variety of optional automated features, including film-centering, film management, and air-fill technology, help deliver consistent pack quality,” according to a recent press release.
The Auto-Splice module of the Inspira Boxmotion bagmaker, which heat-seals individual film reels together automatically to produce continuous production, is being showcased at Snackex. The Autosplice guarantees a faster and safer replacement of film reels in less than 20 seconds, saving delay, waste of product and film, and errors resulting from operator setup.
Designed for easy handling, all essential mechanical parts are accessible for faster cleaning and maintenance whilst the intuitive 15.3” HMI screen provides user-friendly operation and machine diagnostics.
To meet the challenge of rising energy costs the Boxmotion bagmaker uses 17% less energy during operation and 25% less on standby compared with previous models, while noise levels are less than 80dBA, even at 160 packs per minute.
The Ishida TSC-AS inline seal-tester offers high-precision seal integrity testing at speeds of up to 150 packs per minute. It combines high-accuracy leak detection with gentle bag handling to offer manufacturers excellent quality control to meet the stringent standards of the retail sector.
The seal-tester measures the air pressure and fill level of every pack directly from the bagmaker. It can detect apertures as small as 3mm, using inline, non-destructive testing, checking each pack for leaks, incorrect inflation, and double packs. Its small footprint allows quick and simple installation and enables it to fit easily into existing lines.
As part of an integrated Ishida packing line, the TSC-AS can link both upstream and downstream to the Ishida bagmaker and case-packer. It measures and feeds back air-fill data directly to the bagmaker, allowing automatic adjustment of the jaws to maintain a constant pack thickness. Downstream air-fill data to the case packer enables adjustments to be made to prevent packs from being misfed and ensure the correct number in each case.
“Among several new features, the seal tester’s advanced HMI touch screen has been designed to resemble a smartphone for easy and intuitive operation. As well as enabling rapid set-up and changeovers, the HMI also provides a wealth of real-time production data, alerting operators to potential issues so that they can take immediate action. This helps to minimize waste and unscheduled downtime,” the company’s representatives mentioned.
