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Flow Wrapping Sticky and Fragile Products
Thomas Czioska, Head of Sales & Marketing, and Christoph Recher, Sales Manager, of LoeschPack explain how flow wrapping handles sticky and fragile confectionery. Czioska says sticky products must never touch each other and that cleaning must be planned carefully. Recher notes that chocolate tablets, especially with whole nuts, can be very fragile, and that machine wrapping beats hand feeding but may not reach solid-bar speeds.
Key takeaways
- Thomas Czioska says flow wrapping capacity scales with the production line: a huge line needs more flow wrapping equipment, while a smaller one may need only one machine.
- Sticky products must never touch each other, and equipment must be wiped down or washed down properly to keep production running smoothly, according to Czioska.
- Christoph Recher says fragile products such as 100 gram tablets with whole nuts need careful handling and will probably not reach the speed of a solid chocolate bar.
Common questions
- Can a small flow wrapper handle gummies and candies without a large production line?
- According to Thomas Czioska of LoeschPack, flow wrapping has more or less nothing to do with the output of the production. A huge production line simply needs more flow wrapping equipment, while a smaller line may need only one flow wrapper.
- How do you flow wrap sticky products like gummies?
- Thomas Czioska of LoeschPack says sticky products are difficult to handle because they stick to each other if they touch, so the products must never touch. The second difficulty is cleaning: the equipment must be wiped down or washed down in the right way so production can continue smoothly. Asked whether LoeschPack has good experience with these kinds of products, he answered, "Yes, we have."
- Can fragile chocolate products be flow wrapped at high speed?
- Christoph Recher of LoeschPack says classic chocolate bars like a 100 gram tablet can be very fragile, especially with whole nuts, and he says LoeschPack has the machines and the experience to handle products like that. Automated wrapping will always be faster than hand feeding, but fragile products will probably not reach the speed of a solid chocolate bar, which is more stable.
Transcript
Tom Rougeux, President, Piepenbrock Packaging
Okay, can a small footprint flow wrapper handle gummies and candies without requiring a huge production line?
Thomas Czioska, Head of Sales & Marketing, LoeschPack
Yeah, the flow wrapping or the primary packaging itself has more or less nothing to do with the output of the production. It's only a question of, if you have a huge production line, you need more flow wrapping equipment. And if you have a smaller one, you may only need one.
Tom Rougeux
How do you handle the stickiness of products?
Thomas Czioska
Sticky products are difficult to handle. So you really have to take care that you, that the products never touch each other. Otherwise they stick to each other.
That's one of the biggest problems you may can have in this direction. The second difficulty is in terms of cleaning, because you have to be careful that you can really wipe down or wash down the equipment in the right way, that you still can have a fluent production.
Tom Rougeux
Does LoeschPack have a good experience of working with these kind of products?
Thomas Czioska
Yes, we have.
Tom Rougeux
Okay, and how does the product shape or the fragility of the product? How does that figure into the design of the machine? What kind of machine?
Whose machine? How does the, how does a fragile product figure into the machine selection or the vendor selection?
Thomas Czioska
You have to take care about the product, and you have to figure out how fragile the product is, to really think about using the right equipment to pack it.
Tom Rougeux
And what kind of equipment does LoeschPack have to handle fragile equipment?
Christoph Recher, Sales Manager, LoeschPack
Especially when you're talking about classic chocolate bars, like a 100 gram tablet, they can be very fragile. But we have machines that, and the experience to handle products like that, especially when you have like whole nuts in it, products become very fragile, and you have to take care that you pack them and handle them with care inside the machine.
Tom Rougeux
Can the LoeschPack machine handle fragile products at speed, at a fast production rate?
Christoph Recher
Of course, you will always be faster than hand feeding, but you will probably not reach the speed of a solid chocolate bar, because it's just more stable, more solid.
Tom Rougeux
All right.
