Ishida Europe has further consolidated its position as the leading manufacturer of complete snacks packaging solutions with the launch of a new vertical form fill seal (VFFS) bagmaker. With 30% increase in speed compared to previous models, the INSPIRA Boxmotion is particularly effective for food manufacturers that want to reduce costs and ensure an error-free production whilst maintaining a flexible operation to meet the ever-changing customer needs.
According to Euromonitor International, value sales of snacks are expected to show higher growth rates during 2022 to 2026 than in 2020 and 2021, and healthy snacks are projected to see the highest CAGR. Innovation will continue to drive the sector with emerging trends including the introduction of sustainable packaging, diverse world food flavors, functional foods, on-the-go snacks and a greater range of packaging sizes and formats to satisfy consumer demands.
Rising energy costs, skilled labor shortages, and supply chain issues are just some of the challenges facing our snacks customers today.
To meet these challenges and market requirements, snacks manufacturers are seeking exceptional levels of adaptability and future proofing from their packaging equipment.
The Ishida INSPIRA Box Motion bagmaker can operate in both continuous and intermittent motion modes. This enables it to handle the widest variety of both product and pack formats, including the introduction of recyclable film and paper packs, while maintaining excellent seal quality and integrity.
Box motion technology enables the sealing jaw motion to operate in both vertical and in/out horizontal planes. This means more uniform pressure is applied over the entire area of the jaws, whereas rotary jaws can only make a single point of contact as they rotate together. As well as ensuring a more consistent and reliable seal, box motion technology can handle all the latest pack formats which, in addition to pillow packs, include side gusset, block bottom, chain packs and flat bottom.
The INSPIRA Box Motion features a new splice table light-bar for easier and faster automatic film splicing overcoming the challenges associated with manual intervention. Capable of completing a film splice cycle in just 20 seconds, this great addition allows operators to manage more machines per head and can result in huge operational cost savings.
With increasing consumer demand to enhance and expand flavors and portion choice, production runs for many snacks can be shorter, making changeover time a bigger factor in maximizing throughput.
With an energy saving design INSPIRA Box Motion uses 17% less energy when in operation and 25% less energy on standby than previous models. The bagmaker’s open structure also allows easy access to key components such as the forming tube, film spindle and tension roller. A large menu-driven Human Machine Interface (HMI) screen provides performance data and diagnostics, with multi-level password access to ensure data integrity.
“The snacks market is being driven by ongoing product and packaging developments, and remains fiercely competitive,” said Andrew Green, Snacks Business Unit Manager, Ishida Europe. “Our new INSPIRA Box Motion has been designed to allow manufacturers to continually adapt to the latest market trends while offering a new level of automation and efficiency. This minimizes the chance of human error and helps to consistently produce quality bags while cutting costs and increasing profitability.”
